Steelers honor late Dan Rooney with win vs. Vikings
A day that began with a tribute to Dan Rooney concluded with the Steelers honoring their late patriarch the best way they could:
With a gritty win.
Nothing was aesthetic about a 26-9 victory in the home opener Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings at Heinz Field, but the result produced a 2-0 record for the second consecutive season, and Rooney surely would have been happy with that.
Ben Roethlisberger threw touchdown passes on the second and third drives before the offense bogged down and settled for four Chris Boswell field goals.
Steelers vs. Vikings
Steelers vs. Vikings post game
The defense, benefitting from quarterback Sam Bradford's late scratch, hounded backup Case Keenum all afternoon and allowed just one touchdown.
The Steelers also overcame another penalty-filled game, as they were flagged 10 times after committing 13 in the opener.
"We realize we're not going to be perfect, particularly at this part of the journey," coach Mike Tomlin said. "No one is, but we have to be good enough to win, and we were. We're thankful for that."
While the offense remains a work-in-progress, the defense held an opponent to 237 net yards for a second consecutive week. Bud Dupree, returning from a shoulder injury, and Vince Williams had sacks. Cam Heyward had two of seven quarterback hits on Keenum, and the Steelers had six passes defensed, including several batted down at the line of scrimmage.
"We just have to keep challenging ourselves," Heyward said. "That's what good defenses do. But it's two games. You don't win a Super Bowl off of two games."
The Steelers were helped by Bradford's unavailability because of a knee injury. He was the NFL's second-best passer in Week 1 when he completed 84.4 percent of his passes for 346 yards and three touchdowns.
Keenum, playing for his third team, was not up to the challenge. He completed 20 of 37 passes for 167 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions and a 65.9 passer rating, which was about 20 points lower than Browns rookie DeShone Kizer in the opener. And this was against a defense that was without defensive end Stephon Tuitt because of a biceps injury and lost rookie linebacker T.J. Watt in the first half to a groin injury.
"If we're playing against the best quarterback in the league or the worst quarterback in the league, we don't care," said linebacker Ryan Shazier, whose eight tackles tied for the team high. "We just want to go with the plan that we have and go out there and do the best that we can."
The defense chased after Keenum like he had a winning Powerball ticket in his back pocket. Heyward set the tone up front, collecting six tackles. Tyson Alualu, subbing for Tuitt, had three tackles and a quarterback hit. Anthony Chickillo filled in for Watt and had four tackles and a quarterback hit.
"I thought they were a formidable bunch, but we expect them to be," Tomlin said of his front seven. "We have capable men over there even without (Dupree and Tuitt). It's reasonable to expect them to play to the level they played today."
The Steelers limited the Vikings to a field goal in the first half and took a 14-3 lead into intermission. The score was 17-3 when Keenum directed his only touchdown drive. He led the Vikings 82 yards in six plays, with rookie Dalvin Cook reeling off runs of 10 and 25 yards. C.J. Ham scored on a 1-yard plunge, but Kai Forbath missed the extra point.
Cook finished with 64 yards on 12 carries, and the Vikings totaled 91 yards on the ground.
"They lulled us to sleep in the third quarter, and I take a lot of (blame) for that," Heyward said. "We've got to be better in that instance."
The defense awakened after that. On the Vikings' final four drives, they ran just one play from the Steelers side of the 50.
"One thing we improved on was we didn't have any personal foul penalties," said Shazier, mindful the Steelers had four such penalties against Cleveland. "I feel like we could have done better on the run, but I thought we did a really good job on the pass, and we restricted them from doing what their game plan was."
And, with Steel Curtain representatives Joe Greene and Mel Blount on hand for the Rooney tribute, the defense did its part to keep the Steelers unbeaten after two games.
"We want to bring the tradition back to Pittsburgh, with the edge guys setting the tone," Dupree said. "We just want to be that team, and this year we feel like we can be."
Joe Rutter is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at jrutter@tribweb.com or via Twitter @tribjoerutter.
