Then, the Vikings seemed to take the lead on a 10-yard pass from Favre to, fittingly, Rice. The official looking right at the play called it incomplete, and he was overturned via replay. But Rashard Mendenhall fumbled inside the five, on the second play of the fourth quarter.Īfter the game, coach Mike Tomlin said that Mendenhall got “ a little careless,” but Tomlin added that Mendenhall’s spot as the starter isn’t in jeopardy - even though at one point late in the game Mewelde Moore was getting the reps.Īfter the fumble, the Vikings embarked on an epic 18-play drive, fueled by a remarkable toe-tapping sideline catch from Rice on third down and nearly 20. 13-10.Īfter two more punts, the Steelers cobbled together another good drive, one that seemed to be destined to finally extend the margin to the final outcome of Super Bowl IX. But after one run and two failed pass attempts, the coach known as “Chilly” got cold feet, opting for a field goal instead of going for the lead. Minnesota responded, with a gutsy call on fourth and one from the Pittsburgh 35 turning into a 34-yard catch-and-run to Brett Favre’s new favorite target, Sidney Rice, giving the Vikings first and goal at the one. Somewhat amazingly, the Vikings’ defense stiffened, holding the Steelers to three points and keeping the score to a manageable margin, 13-7. Pittsburgh seemed to be poised to put the thing out of reach on the first drive after intermission, with a couple of personal fouls from the purple people putting the Steelers inside the 10 in little over three minutes. And the Minnesota defense played like it was the fourth quarter, allowing the Steelers to move down the field and score a touchdown that game them a 10-7 lead at the half. Still, the damage wasn’t serious, with the Steelers leading 3-0 after the first quarter.Īnd then the Vikings’ offense woke up, putting together a methodical 13-play drive that gave Minnesota what would be its only lead, 7-3.Īfter trading punts again, the Steelers got the ball on their own nine, with 1:39 to play in the half. The game started sluggishly, with two strong defenses forcing an exchange of punts in a field-position battle that the Vikings eventually lost, thanks to a couple of shanks from Chris Kluwe. No matter what the Vikings did, they wouldn’t win the game. And while the Vikings’ offense was a lot more effective on Sunday than it was when the team’s only points came from a blocked punt and a failed conversion, there was a similar sense of inevitability throughout most of the afternoon.
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The 10-point victory margin matched the same difference from the day these two franchises met nearly 35 years ago in New Orleans. ET) featured four snoozers, one blowout that became a close game, and one compelling, playoff-atmosphere, Heinz Field-record crowd, perfect October football afternoon battle between the defending NFL champs and a team that has loaded the cannon ( but for Darren Sharper) in the hopes of finally getting back to the Super Bowl for the first time in 33 years - and winning it for the first time in 44. ET (with the other five beginning at at 4:05 p.m. The problem, of course, is that the six games that started at 1:00 p.m. For reasons neither known nor apparent, the NFL smoothed out what typically is a Sunday afternoon schedule with too many early games and two few late ones.