Sunday was the classic Pittsburgh Steelers experience. A blood pressure-raising game in the final moments, turning what appeared to be a rare comfortable victory into a nailbiter. The Steelers came away with the win but even Mike Tomlin acknowledged it shouldn’t have been so close.
“We made it a little bit more entertaining than maybe it should have been,” Tomlin said via the team’s website after its 24-21. “But the Vikings had a lot to do with that. That group’s got a lot of fight, man. They’re well-coached.”
Heading into the fourth quarter, Pittsburgh led 21-6. The running game looked sharp, the front seven was dominating, and Minnesota had little answers. A Chris Boswell field goal extended the lead to 24-6 with 11:35 left in the game. The Vikings answered with a long drive resulting in a 16-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 10 halfway through the quarter. The Steelers responded with a long drive to burn clock but came away without points. Tomlin and the offense decided to run on 4th and goal from the 4-yard line and were stopped a yard shy from the end zone.
Despite being backed up, the Vikings hit a big play to flip the field. QB Carson Wentz found a wide open WR Jordan Addison for an 81-yard completion down to the 1-yard line, LB Payton Wilson making a touchdown-saving tackle. Minnesota scored but had to chew more clock and with a successful two-point try, the Vikings trailed by just three.
Pittsburgh recovered the onside kick. Facing 4th and inches with a first down to win it, Tomlin opted to not only punt but instruct P Corliss Waitman to boom the ball out of the end zone for a touchback. Minnesota took over at the 20 with about one minute left. The defense shut the door from there, SS DeShon Elliott knocking away Wentz’s final fourth-down pass.
The box score shows a three-point win. In reality, it was a first 50 minutes of domination by Pittsburgh followed by a near collapse. In some ways, it mirrored the Steelers’ last international game. A contest that also came against Minnesota, Pittsburgh trailed 34-17 going into the fourth quarter. The Steelers rallied to make it a 34-27 game and drove to the Vikings’ 6-yard line before the game-tying drive stalled on fourth down.
This time, Pittsburgh held off the comeback to make for a happy flight back to the United States.
