Importantly, Minnesota’s offense can’t be knocked for caving because it never threw up its arms in overtly grim circumstances, such as a 24-6 deficit in the fourth quarter and in-game losses of right tackle Brian O’Neill, who suffered a knee injury on Will Reichard’s first field goal, which put the club ahead 3-0, and center Ryan Kelly, who departed in concussion protocol in his return from sustaining one in Week 2.
The offensive operation, however, didn’t meet the Vikings standard.
To put it bluntly, it was sloppy for the majority.
“We ended up throwing the ball quite a bit, so that’s always tough on the line and everything, and there’s definitely times I could have gotten rid of the ball quicker and gone through my progressions faster,” Wentz said, crediting Pittsburgh. “They play hard. They play physical. They made it tough on us.”
Minnesota converted just four of 14 third downs (29 percent). Mason averaged 3.6 yards rushing on 16 carries, with a long run of 9. Both of Wentz’s interceptions were touched at the line – the first, intended for Addison, was tipped by rookie Derrick Harmon and snatched over the middle by DeShon Elliott; All-Pro game-wrecker T.J. Watt, who had one of Pittsburgh’s six sacks, batted the second one to himself after it was tipped initially by Cameron Heyward.
“At the end of the day, we lost. That’s all I care about. That’s all I’m concerned about. Got a bad taste in my mouth,” Wentz said when asked about what he thought of his performance. “The defense stepped up when we needed ’em at the end, got us the ball back. In those situations, it pains me to be left out on the field with a chance and come up short. … Couple of tipped picks … those are tough. They kind of derailed what I thought [was] decent momentum going on a couple of drives.”
The most obvious issues stemmed from the changes up front. The starting five, from left to right, of Christian Darrisaw, Blake Brandel (already filling in for injured starter Donovan Jackson), Kelly, Will Fries and O’Neill played a single series together before the latter was hurt and replaced by Justin Skule. Second-year center Michael Jurgens came on in the second half.