The Steelers defeated the Minnesota Vikings in Dublin 24-21 in a game that shouldn’t have been as close as the final score. Despite some heart-pounding final minutes, it still counts as a win — Pittsburgh advances to 3-1 and remains at the top of the AFC North.
And as always, there are plenty of takeaways to be had:
1. Some good coaching — and some questionable decisions
Mike Tomlin is going to get some (well-deserved) flak for his decision-making against the Vikings, but it overshadowed a performance where he and Pittsburgh’s staff looked good overall.
The Vikings are, without a doubt, one of the most well-coached and cutting-edge franchises in the league, and the Steelers dominated for the majority of the game. Despite an unfamiliar location with a weird kickoff time — and a teammate being jumped and robbed over the weekend — the Steelers were remarkably poised and focused in what was their best win of the year so far.
Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin schemed up some excellent blitz packages that got home to Carson Wentz, while offensive coordinator Arthur Smith’s gameplan found the weak spots in Brian Flores’ scheme with quick game throws and a run game that punched the defense in the mouth.
The Vikings were shorthanded, but it’s still the Vikings. This was a good win for the Steelers.
But it shouldn’t have been that close. And part of that falls on the coaches as well.
There were a few puzzling choices: The first was Tomlin’s initial decision to settle for a field goal on fourth-and-goal from the three-yard-line with 4:14 left in the game. The Steelers were already up two possessions at that point (24-14) and would’ve gone up three with another touchdown.
After a strange back-and-forth where the players seemed to disagree with Tomlin over the call, he relented and the offense went for it. But then the call was just a simple run play — which, when you need over three yards against an already-condensed goal line defense, is not the best decision. The Steelers, unsurprisingly, didn’t get it.
Pittsburgh then had a second chance to put the game away for good after Minnesota marched downfield thanks to a coverage bust and made it within three points of the Steelers. The team needed one yard on fourth down at the Minnesota 40-yard-line with under a minute left in the game. All the Steelers had to do was gain a yard to seal the win — on a day where Pittsburgh, for once, was dominating in the run game.
This time, there was no convincing Tomlin.
The Steelers punted, and to add insult to injury, punter Corliss Waitman sent the ball straight through the end zone for a touchback rather than at least trying to play the field position game. This one looked like another coaching decision (were they overly worried about a return?) given how purposefully Waitman sent the ball through the end zone.
Instead of potentially winning the game on the previous snap, the Steelers simply pushed Minnesota back all of 20 yards and gave them back the ball.
To be fair, the Steelers were going up against on-his-sixth-team Carson Wentz, not prime Tom Brady, and you could argue that at the end of the day, Tomlin was proven right given the final score.
But anyone who survived the unnecessary stress at the end of the game knows that the Steelers should’ve wrapped it up much sooner. Instead, there were two failed chances to do exactly that — and an 80-yard coverage bust. As good of a performance as it was for the Steelers’ players and coaches for most of the game, a few crucial mistakes nearly undid it all.
A win is a win. But the decision-making process was rough to watch in the fourth quarter.
2. Enjoy Nick Herbig while you can
I don’t like wading too deep into the “Nick Herbig should start” discourse simply because T.J. Watt is T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith remains one of the most underrated pass rushers in the league. But that isn’t to say Herbig isn’t a starting-caliber player in his own right.
And who-should-start discussions aside, the Steelers are exceptionally lucky to have three high-end edge defenders in a league that’s constantly in need of more — especially given the number of injuries Pittsburgh keeps suffering at the position.
Herbig was a key piece in the Steelers’ win over the Vikings, logging five tackles, one tackle for loss, 1.5 sacks, and three quarterback hits. It was his pressure that forced the intentional grounding penalty that put the Vikings behind the sticks on their failed game-winning drive attempt.
It’s not just a one-game sample size; Herbig has been like that for a while.
Herbig will remain under his ridiculously good-value rookie contract through 2026, after which he’ll certainly demand starting-level money on the free agent market. I mean, he wasn’t just beating anyone on Sunday, but Vikings left tackle Christian Darrisaw, one of the best at the position.
The fact that the Steelers’ OLB3 can do that should not be taken for granted. Pittsburgh has it good at outside linebacker, even with the Alex Highsmith injury.
3. Feed D.K. Metcalf
D.K. Metcalf recorded the most catches in a game of his young Steelers career. The result? His first 100-yard game in the black and gold.
Just as analyst Greg Olsen said on the broadcast that the Steelers needed to move Metcalf around more to give him favorable opportunities, the team did exactly that. Metcalf caught a quick pass from the slot that he turned into a chunk gain.
Later in the game came the highlight of the day: a post route from Metcalf met with perfect ball placement from Aaron Rodgers. The receiver did the rest, showing off his $33 million per year speed for a long touchdown.
Metcalf continues to be one of the best in the league when it comes to yards after catch, and he’s become surprisingly consistent as a contested catcher as well.
The Steelers’ offense isn’t entirely devoid of talent, but Metcalf’s ability is clearly on a different level compared to the rest of the team’s skill position players. After averaging around three catches per game entering the Vikings matchup, it was good to see the Steelers make an effort to feed him more touches. He’s that dynamic.
4. No Jaylen Warren, no problem
While Metcalf has been the flashiest, Warren has been the Steelers’ most consistent playmaker through the first three weeks of the season. When it was announced he’d miss the Vikings game with a knee injury, there was reason to worry that the Steelers offense would struggle, especially in the run game, where Warren had been the team’s only real bright spot.
That shockingly wasn’t the case against Minnesota, where Pittsburgh turned in the team’s best rushing performance of the year so far with Kenneth Gainwell as the lead back. Gainwell, who has faced a fair amount of criticism this year, looked excellent, showing off some patience at times but more importantly hitting the hole a lot harder than he had in games past. The result was a near-100-yard game (99) with an impressive 5.2 yards per carry.
Even the rookie Kaleb Johnson got involved, rushing six times for 22 yards in a nice bounce-back performance following a start to the season he’d rather forget.
But as good as the running backs looked, the key to their success was the offense line, which bullied another team’s front seven for most of the game for the first time in what seems like forever. Against a talented and unpredictable Vikings D-line, the Steelers’ front consistently opened up rushing lanes and dominated.
Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith also deserves credit for the added wrinkle of the Spencer Anderson extra O-lineman package. Paired with Darnell Washington in the run game, it was a highly-effective jumbo package Minnesota wasn’t prepared for.
It’s just one week, but if the Steelers’ running game can keep its momentum throughout the season, it will be key to opening up the Arthur Smith offense.
5. The front seven took over
Sure, the Vikings’ offensive line was hobbled with injuries on Sunday; the Steelers didn’t exactly dominate one of the league’s best offensive lines.
Still, when you’re a team like the Steelers that’s spent the GDP of a small country on defense, you’d better hope you take over the game against a backup O-line. That Pittsburgh did, sacking Carson Wentz six times for a total loss of 48 yards for the Vikings.
It wasn’t just the sacks, either. Pittsburgh is now up to 52 pressures (per Nick Farabaugh) over the last two weeks, and they’ve been getting their hands on the ball quite a bit, too: both of Carson Wentz’s interceptions on the day came off of tipped passes, including one Watt grabbed himself in a vintage No. 90 play:
Just about every player on the Steeler front seven had a standout rep or more against the Vikings. It was a must-needed showing for a unit that’s performed under expectations for much of the season.
6. Bounce-back game
Staying on the front seven, it was a big game for two specific players who haven’t had the smoothest starts to 2025: defensive tackle Keeanu Benton and linebacker Payton Wilson.
Benton started the year as patient zero when it came to diagnosing the cause of the Steelers’ defensive woes. He responded in a big way on Sunday, logging 1.5 sacks (previously his career-high for a year was one), three quarterback hits, one tackle for loss, and four total tackles.
After calls for his starting spot earlier this season, Benton was an impact player versus Minnesota.
The same can be said of Payton Wilson. The young linebacker still had some issues in coverage, but he was a force to be reckoned with overall, leading the team in tackles with 13 and adding two tackles for loss. He was flying around the field, shooting gaps, and even recorded one quarterback hit on a blitz.
But his biggest play actually came on the Steeler defense’s worst: a miscommunication that resulted in an 81-yard catch and run to Jordan Addison that officially put the Vikings back in the game. Addison got behind the entire Steelers defense by a wide margin…
…and somehow got chased down by a linebacker.
Wilson hit an insane 22.48 mph on the play per Next Gen Stats — next-level athleticism and effort. It wasn’t just a feel-good play, either. While the Vikings did eventually score, Wilson’s stop led to a goal-line stand that took just over a minute off the game clock when Minnesota needed every second. He made one of the most consequential plays of the game.
7. Odds and ends
- After Aaron Rodgers was sacked on the first play from scrimmage, I thought we were in for a much longer day against Brian Flores’ defense.
- I’m surprised we didn’t see much, if any, of Jabrill Peppers on Sunday after how well he played last week. Of course, his skill set is in some ways redundant to DeShon Elliott, but especially with some of Chuck Clark’s recent lapses, Peppers should still probably see the field some.
- Speaking of Elliott, it couldn’t be more clear how much he means to this defense. He made quite the impact in his first game back from injury with six tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss, two quarterback hits, and two passes defensed. One was the game-ending pass deflection as well. He’s a playmaker.
- The Steelers’ redzone offense was uncharacteristically inefficient on Sunday, and Jalen Ramsey had a fumble return touchdown that was called back for a correct-but-still-fluky reason. In short, the Steelers could’ve won by a lot more than they did.
- Kaleb Johnson looked good as a runner on Sunday, but he did record a drop on a dump-off pass. His work in the pass-catching game is next to work on as he continues to earn back his coaches’ favor.
- Ben Skworonek earned the Steelers an extra 15 yards with a flop that fooled the referees. I’d be mad about it too if I were on the Vikings, but from the Steelers’ point of view, it was an Oscar-worthy performance.
- Broderick Jones had one of the game’s more underrated plays where he picked up an Aaron Rodgers fumble, not only preserving the first down, but also gaining yardage. Something tells me he was watching Alabama football over the weekend.
- While Isaac Seumalo deserves just as much credit as anyone for how good the Steelers’ offensive line looked in the run game on Sunday, he’s quietly been one of the team’s more problematic players up front for much of the season. It’s a shame, as he’s supposed to be the steady veteran in the group as the, well, only veteran.
- I think we’ve officially crossed the line, if we hadn’t already, from Patrick Queen having an up and down season to a legitimately good one. For the last few weeks he’s been all over the field making tackles. Yes, the middle of the field coverage problems haven’t completely dissipated, but you’re not going to find many lockdown coverage linebackers in the NFL. Queen is playing up to his contract right now.
- Zach Frazier had a bit of a problem with low snaps against the Vikings.
- Aaron Rodgers deserves some credit for being willing to block on a late-game run. The other camera angle showed he wasn’t quite as impactful as the initial view did, but it was a good effort nonetheless.
- And finally, a shoutout to Roman Wilson for recovering the Vikings’ late onside kick on the hands team. He hasn’t contributed much as a receiver this year, but still made a crucial play to help Pittsburgh win this week.
The Steelers will enter their Week 5 bye 3-1, and pending Monday Night Football, will either be tied or alone in first place in the AFC North. It’s an imperfect team, but they’re in a good spot following the first quarter of the season.
What are your takeaways from Steelers vs. Vikings? Agree/disagree with the ones above? Join the Behind the Steel Curtain community and let us know in the comments!
