Fourth-Quarter Fireworks Turn Steelers' Win Over Vikings Into a Classic

The much-anticipated showdown between the Vikings and Steelers at Heinz Field went pretty much as expected for three quarters -- hard-nosed, low-scoring, old-fashioned football. Then the fourth quarter came, and things went off the rails.

Pittsburgh held a 13-10 lead when the final frame began, and needed just one play to get inside Minnesota's 10. But on the Steelers' second fourth-quarter snap, Rashard Mendenhall coughed up a fumble. The Vikings then marched 89 yards in 17 plays, from their own 3 to the Steelers' 8. On third-and-goal, Brett Favre dropped back to pass and was stripped by Pittsburgh lineman Brett Keisel. Defensive end LaMarr Woodley scooped up the loose ball and rumbled, James Harrison Super Bowl-style, 77 yards for a touchdown.

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"I got to the 40 and I didn't think I was going to make it," Woodley said. Just like Harrison, of course, he did.

20-10 Steelers, 6:23 left. Game over, right?

Not so fast. Minnesota rookie Percy Harvin took the ensuing kickoff back 88 yards (video below), a thrilling return that included one of Harvin's blockers accidentally clobbering a referee.



And all that just set up a frantic final six minutes -- Pittsburgh punted the ball back to Minnesota with a little more than three minutes left, leaving Favre plenty of time to get his team into, at least, field-goal range. He did just that, too, marching Minnesota to the Pittsburgh 19.

On 2nd-and-3 with 1:15 left, though, Favre's pass for Chester Taylor instead wound up in the hands of Pittsburgh's Keyaron Fox, who raced back the other direction 82 yards for the Steelers' second defensive touchdown in five minutes. That one did salt the game away, 27-17.

"Brett tried to force it in there and the running back bobbled it and slipped out of his hands and it fell into my lap," Fox said. "I had just run across the field after Peterson and I was winded, so it felt like it was 100-plus yards."

Minnesota fell to 6-1, its first loss in the Favre era, while Pittsburgh improved to 5-2 and, for the moment pending the outcome of Chicago-Cincinnati, took over first place in the AFC North.

The game almost single-handedly made up for a subpar set of early games in Week 7. Houston's narrow victory over San Francisco was the only other matchup that was remotely competitive -- but the final seven minutes of the Steelers' triumph more than made up for the rest of it.