Minnesota Vikings Week 2: Top 5 takeaways vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
By Josh Clarke
What were some of the biggest takeaways from the Minnesota Vikings week 2 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, September 17, 2017?
The Minnesota Vikings entered Pittsburgh unbeaten but with Sam Bradford ruled out due to a knee injury they fell to a 1-1 record after a miserable performance against the Steelers led to a 17 point loss.
In Bradford’s absence Case Keenum made his first start as a Vikings Quarterback but could only manage a 54% completion percentage for 167 yards and a paltry 4.5 attempt average. Pressed into starting duty with little time to prepare Keenum wasn’t as bad as the stat line suggests and was far from the only reason the Vikings came up short against superior competition compared to their Week 1 foes.
Offensively the Vikings were challenged by a Pittsburgh front seven that recorded 7 sacks in Week 1 and completely shut down the Brown’s run game. As you can guess from the total number of points Minnesota scored, it didn’t go well. 6 days after restricting the Saint’s offense, Minnesota faced the Killer B’s who were determined to show that their sluggish start to the season was a blip on the radar. The Vikings defence acquitted itself well but ultimately fell short as the sheer amount of offensive weapons Pittsburgh posses overwhelmed them.
After strong performances across the board in their previous outing several positional groups crashed back down to earth in Week 2. It is always hard to gauge a team’s performance in these circumstances but that is exactly what I will try to do with my top five takeaways from the Vikings’ disappointing Week 2 performance.
Unless otherwise noted, all game stats are provided by ESPN