Pittsburgh Steelers "At" Minnesota Vikings: Second Quarter Open Thread

The Minnesota Vikings lost the coin toss for the fourth time in four games, but the Pittsburgh Steelers deferred to the second half, so the purple got the ball first at Wembley Stadium.

The Vikings' offense looked good at first, with Matt Cassel connecting with Jerome Simpson on a couple of quick passes early, but the drive eventually stalled, and Blair Walsh did what Blair Walsh does. . .connect for a field goal of longer than 50 yards. He extended his streak to 12-for-12 from 50+, connecting from 54 to give the Vikings an early 3-0 lead.

Minnesota then forced the Steelers to punt, and what appeared to be a huge punt return for Marcus Sherels was called back due to an iffy "invalid fair catch signal" call. I don't know if he actually signaled for a fair catch, but Clete Blakeman and company decided that he did. On the ensuing drive, a third down pass from Cassel to Greg Jennings went from a 3-yard catch to a 70-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown to put the Vikings ahead 10-0.

You could say that Greg Jennings PUT DA TEAM ON HIS BACK, DOE! (Language warning if you've never seen it.)

The Steelers got their offense going on their next drive, courtesy of Ben Roethlisberger and Emmanuel Sanders connecting on a deep ball to get the Steelers into Vikings territory for the first time. Rookie running back Le'Veon Bell took the ball into the end zone from eight yards out to cut the Minnesota lead to 10-7. It was the Steelers' first rushing touchdown since Week 15 of 2012, and the first touchdown the Steelers picked up in the first quarter at all this season.

The Vikings proceeded to go three-and-out, and a pretty bad punt by Jeff Locke set the Steelers up with good field position near midfield. Fortunately, the Steelers were kind enough to go three-and-out themselves, but Minnesota them went three-and-out for the second straight drive. Locke blasted a 57-yarder to make up for his earlier punting faux pas, and that's what we're looking at now.

The Steelers are looking at 2nd-and-9 from their own 24-yard line as we start the second quarter, with Minnesota leading 10-7.