Daily Norseman
The Duel in Dublin
The Vikings were always adept at crossing the Atlantic. With that in mind, our beloved football team will travel to Dublin, Ireland, on Sunday to face the always dangerous Pittsburgh Steelers.
I’ll admit it: I say “always dangerous” because of a healthy dose of jealousy. Despite some recent setbacks, the Steelers have been one of the most consistent and well-managed franchises in all professional sports for decades. Since 1990, they’ve made the playoffs 22 times, played in seven AFC Championship Games, participated in four Super Bowls, and won two championships. They’ve had only two (!) head coaches since 1992. How long ago was that? Nirvana’s Nevermind topped the album chart just 10 days before Bill Cowher was hired in January that year. Man, I’m feeling old.
Of course, much of that success can be attributed to current head coach Mike Tomlin, who has famously never had a losing season in his 18 years as the Steelers’ head coach. That’s just incredible. Things have been shaky at the QB position since Ben Roethlisberger retired, but now they’ve allegedly steadied the ship with our old nemesis, Aaron Rodgers. While he’s definitely better than Mitchell Trubisky, Kenny Pickett, Mason Rudolph, Justin Fields, and Russell Wilson, how much better remains uncertain.
The Vikings are a perfect 4-0 in international games since 2013, coincidentally, when they defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers. Unfortunately, that proved to be arguably the only highlight in an abysmal 5-10-1 season.
So what’s in store this time around?
Scouting the Steelers
The Steelers enter this one 2-1, but with some questions. Their wins came in the form of a two-point victory against a feisty (but bad) 0-3 Jets team, and a seven-point win against what appears to be an underwhelming 1-2 Patriots squad. The latter seems particularly unimpressive considering the Pats turned the ball over five times. In between, our old pal Sam Darnold and the Seahawks took it to them in Pittsburgh, 31-17. Yeah, I lost some coin on that one.
The numbers don’t instill fear. In this young season, the Steelers rank 30th in offensive yards per game (247) and 12th in points per game (24). On defense, they rank 28th in yards allowed per game (386) and 22nd in points allowed per game (25.7). They’re likely not 1-2 (or worse) at this point due to being tied for first in turnover differential (+5).
I’m sure some Steelers bloggers are embracing the narrative that (overall) the Vikings haven’t been impressive either. They’d be correct. Those first two games – particularly on offense – were ugly. We got smacked around at home by a Falcons team that promptly went out and got pummeled by the freakin’ Panthers (!) 30-0. We won impressively against a Bengals team sans Burrow with a defense that, well, exists. Carson Wentz played well – efficient with some nice throws, but nothing to elicit memories of Dan Marino circa-1984.
I noted in an earlier article how it’s often pure folly to forecast a...
