What The Steelers Must Do to Beat the Vikings

Sunday at home the Steelers have an opportunity to hand Minnesota their first loss of the 2009 NFL season. Below are some keys the team will need to do to beat the Vikings, and put themselves in a spot to be 5-2 heading into the bye:

1. Make life tough for Brett Favre – You have to know that Dick LeBeau is trying his best to come up with ways to get Favre out of the pocket and on the run to force him to make some mistakes. Look for a lot of blitzes that force Favre to have to hurry throws, and for him to have a long day vs the Steelers pressure.

2. Don’t Allow Adrian Peterson to run wild– Your not going to stop Peterson, but you have to find a way to make sure he doesn’t gouge you all day. Let’s face it, he’s going to get yards, he’s the best back in football. But you can help out the offense by not allowing him to have a day of say 125 yards and two scores. If the Steelers can find a way to hold him to like 70-85 yards, they have a shot to pull out the win.

3. Keep using Heath Miller a lot in the passing game – The Steelers TE is having a big year at the TE spot, and one way to stretch the field is for him to keep getting chances to make plays and getting shots downfield. The last two weeks Roethlisberger has been looking a lot for Miller, and I think vs the Vikings that will happen again.

4. Use More Screen Passes – The Vikings will look to put a lot of heat on Ben Roethlisberger, and one way to keep him on his feet and the offense moving is to use all three running backs on screen passes. It’s a great way to beat the Vikings pressure and blitzes, and they shouldn’t forget that it can help the offense in a pinch.

I think the Steelers will find a way to pull out this game. They will have the home field on their side, and you can look for a hard fought game with a final of 26-21 Steelers.