Behind the Steel Curtain
Just like a week ago, the Steelers will square off against a team with an identical record this weekend. While Pittsburgh managed to squeak out a win in a sloppy game against New England, Minnesota was putting belt to ass against Cincinnati, winning 48-10 in a lopsided game that included two Vikings defensive touchdowns.
As they head across the pond to Dublin, both teams are dealing with injuries to starters, though the Steelers might be receiving some reinforcements to their secondary. Whichever team wins Sunday will advance to 3-1 and hold a share of first place in their division to close the first month of the season.
Rushing YPG: 122.3 (13th)
Passing YPG: 145.7 (3oth)
PPG: 27.0 (6th)
RP: Looking from the outside, the Vikings seem like they’ve had a fairly tumultuous first month. They opened the season on Monday Night Football against the Bears, and for three quarters, their offense looked like an unmitigated disaster. Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy looked unplayable for most of the game before catching fire and leading the Vikings to score 21 unanswered points and a stunning comeback victory.
The following week, McCarthy once again looked unplayable, completing just 52.3% of his passes and throwing another two interceptions. There was no late-game surge for the Vikings in a 22-6 loss to the Falcons. McCarthy was shut down for Week 3 after he was diagnosed with an ankle sprain. He’s been ruled out for the game against Pittsburgh, which means the Steelers will be getting NFL journeyman Carson Wentz.
Wentz wasn’t asked to do too much against the Bengals, and the Vikings’ defense pitched in two touchdowns to the effort.
Despite Wentz’s reputation taking a nosedive in the years following his fall from grace in Philadelphia, this Vikings offense won’t be one to take lightly. Since becoming Minnesota’s head coach, we’ve seen Kevin O’Connell’s offense operate enough successful game plans with a variety of quarterbacks of varying skill levels at this point to expect the Vikings to put Wentz in a position to succeed.
After all, Sam Darnold was essentially banished to the life of an NFL backup until a season-ending injury to McCarthy during the preseason opened up an opportunity for him to start. Darnold’s performance filling in with Minnesota last season earned him a big contract this offseason, and O’Connell deserves a ton of credit for helping revive his career.
Schematically, O’Connell comes from the Shanahan-McVay coaching tree, working as the Rams’ offensive coordinator for two years prior to being hired by Minnesota. We talked about the Shanahan-McVay offense previously when we previewed the game against Seattle in Week 2, so I won’t repeat myself too much here. But the simple version is this: expect a zone running attack, especially wide zone, with plenty of horizontal routes that exploit spacing vertically to challenge the defensive coverage.
And the Vikings will give Wentz chances to succeed. He might not be the most skilled quarterback the Steelers will...
