Steelers 20, Vikings 17 – John Breech, CBS Sports

With the NFC North, I’ve been having a classic zig-zag problem: When I think they’re going to zig, they zag. When I think they’re going to zag, they eat pizza. When I pick an NFC North team to lose to the Bengals, they put up 48 points. When I think an NFC North team is going to cake walk to a win over the Browns, they end up blowing a 10-point lead in the final four minutes. And yes, I’m looking at you, Packers.

The good news for me is that I don’t think my NFC North jinx applies here because this game is being played out of the country. For the first time in NFL history, we’re getting a game in Dublin, and if I know anything about Dublin, every fan at the game will have downed at least seven pints of Guinness by the time this thing kicks off. I once visited Ireland and the only thing I did for three straight days was drink Guinness and eat Irish Stew. And to be honest, I’m 40% sure there was Guinness in the stew. They put Guinness in everything. They also can turn anything into a stew. I love Ireland.

As for this game, it’s almost fitting that the Vikings and Steelers are facing each other this week. There have only been two games all season where a team has forced five turnovers: The Vikings did it in Week 3 against the Bengals and the Steelers did it in Week 3 against the Patriots.

The Vikings sent Carson Wentz out as their starting QB in Week 3, but we didn’t really learn anything about him because he got to start the second half with a 31-point lead. If there’s one time when it’s easy to play QB in the NFL, it’s when you have a 31-point lead in the second half.

Wentz got sacked three times in the first half against the Bengals, and now, he’ll be going up against a Steelers defense that racked up five sacks against the Patriots. Wentz probably would have been sacked more in Week 3, but the Vikings only threw the ball six times in the second half because they had such a huge lead. Like I said, it’s much easier to play QB in the NFL when you have a 31-point lead. I’m guessing Minnesota won’t have a 31-point lead against the Steelers at any point, so this feels like a game where Pittsburgh’s defense will be able to tee off against Wentz.

Although I expect Wentz to struggle, I also expect Aaron Rodgers to struggle against the Vikings defense. My gut says pick the Steelers, but that could also just be the Irish Stew talking.