Defense surrenders 34 points, Roethlisberger again plagued by costly turnovers as Steelers fall to 0-4

Adrian Peterson ran for 140 yards and two scores, and Greg Jennings made two touchdown catches, including a 70 yard catch and run, as the Minnesota Vikings held on to preserve a 34-27 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday for their first win of the season.

The Vikings led 34-17 late in the third quarter but the Steelers rallied and threatened to send the game to overtime until Everson Griffen stripped Ben Roethlisberger on the Vikings 6-yard line with 19 seconds left to secure the win as Kevin Williams recovered.

It was Roethlisberger’s second costly turnover of the second half and the Steelers fall to 0-4 for the first time since 1968.

“We’re in uncharted territory and the water is dangerous right now,” Roethlisberger said of the Steelers falling to 0-4.

Running back Le’Veon Bell made his season debut and rushed for 56 yards and 2 touchdowns in the loss.

POST-GAME BUZZ

For the fourth straight game, the Pittsburgh Steelers showed they are just a bad team all around.

The Steelers defense surrendered 34 points, couldn’t tackle, gave up several explosive plays, produced no takeaways and the offense again was plagued by costly turnovers from Roethlisberger.

Roethlisberger was 36 for 51 for 383 yards, with one touchdown and one interception, and while he was under duress all game and did some good things, Roethlisberger continues to make mistakes a so-called franchise quarterback shouldn’t be making.

In his 10th year, Roethlisberger remains a work in progress when it comes to knowing when to throw the ball away. The Vikings game ending stripped fumble was a prime example of that as was Roethlisberger’s horrid interception in the third quarter when coverage was excellent and he threw into double coverage to Emmanuel Sanders. Game was 27-17 at the time of the interception. Vikings needed just two plays to make it 34-17.

Roethlisberger is now 1-7 in his last eight games and is 0-7 in his last seven games when he throws 40 or more times.

He’s playing behind an awful offensive line and maybe the worst left tackle in football in Mike Adams but Roethlisberger has turned into a turnover machine since the second half of last season and some of the mistakes are squarely on him.

The Steelers offense outgained the Vikings in several categories with a 29-16 advantage on first down, outgained the Vikings 434 to 393, won the time of possession battle (36:27 to 23:33) but the Steelers had two turnovers and the Vikings had zero.

Roethlisberger’s third quarter interception was a killer but at the end of the day, this loss mostly falls on the defenses shoulders as you’re not going to win much when you give up 30+ points and produce no turnovers.

A rundown of what did the Steelers defense in:

*The Vikings had explosive passing plays of 70 yards (Greg Jennings catch and run TD) and 51 yards (Jerome Simpson reception) and a 60 yard TD run by Adrian Peterson.

*The Steelers defense produced 0 takeaways and just 1 sack.

*Matt Cassel completed his last 11 passes and went 16/25 for 248 yards and 2 touchdowns, posting a 123.4 QB rating. Cassel was sacked just once.

*Adrian Peterson gashed the Steelers for 140 yards, 2 touchdowns, including a 60 yard TD run