PITTSBURGH -- Was this it, the beginning of the undoing of Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre, a time when he starts to look his age of 40, forcing some to question if he maybe should have stayed down on the farm?
Admit it. Some of you are waiting for him to start to look like a broken-down old man, his passes going to the other team, his pocket presence becoming flawed and his decision-making becoming questionable.
OK, I admit it. I expect it to happen. Not if, but when.
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| The Steelers jump on Brett Favre's mistakes and end the Vikings' unbeaten run. (AP) |
The Steelers turned Mr. Fourth Quarter Comeback into Mr. Fourth Quarter Disaster, even if it wasn't entirely his fault.
But let's be real. When the Vikings win, Favre gets all the praise. The Vikings are the E-Street Band to his Springsteen all the time. The highlight shows can't get enough of him, even if we can. So when they lose, and he's a big part of that, doesn't somebody need to come down on him?
Consider the hammer banged.
Facts are facts. Favre gagged in the fourth quarter Sunday, and now the Vikings aren't undefeated anymore. He threw for 334 yards, but two fourth-quarter turnovers for scores were what lost this game.
Free pass? Not here.
On the first turnover, Favre held the ball too long and Steelers defensive end Brett Keisel knocked the ball free. LaMarr Woodley picked it up and ran 77 yards for a 20-10 lead. Instead of tying the game, or going up with 6:23 left, Favre left the ball on the ground.
"On our defense we always try and go out there and not just get turnovers, but try to put points on the board," Woodley said.
A giving quarterback helps. The next blunder, the biggest of the day, came with the Vikings trying to tie the game -- or even win it -- in the closing minutes. Trailing 20-17, Minnesota had a second-and-3 at the Pittsburgh 19. Favre tried to squeeze -- that's the phrase used by some Steelers players after the game -- a screen pass into tight quarters and it bounced off Chester Taylor's hands into the arms of linebacker Keyaron Fox.
All Fox did was grab the deflected pass and race 82 yards -- outdoing Woodley -- into the end zone for the game-clinching touchdown with a minute left. All Favre could do was feebly attempt to bring him down, although it didn't really matter at that point.
In fairness to Favre, Taylor should have caught the ball. But it was kind of zinged a little high into tight quarters. The stat sheet says interception. How many times have his receivers bailed him out, including the game-winning catch against the 49ers by Greg Lewis four weeks ago?
"We had those turnovers, especially when you return them for touchdowns, they made a huge difference," Favre said.
No, they decided the game. Your turnovers decided the game.
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Recap: Steelers 27, Vikings 17 |
I can hear the highlight-show, talking heads now. Poor Brett. He gets the ball shaken free from the backside, and then his pass goes off his teammate's hands. Bad breaks? Nope. Bad plays.
Most of this game was a defensive struggle, which appeals to me about as much as eating a sandwich with French fries and coleslaw piled on top, which they actually sell as a signature meal in this city.
So sitting through a game that featured the Steelers and Vikings playing dink-and-dunk with their passing games, and barely running the football with any efficiency, even though Adrian Peterson was in the Vikings backfield, was tough to take.
Then the fourth quarter came and a Steelers defense that had gagged in a couple of fourth quarters this season stole the show -- turning defense into offense.
In the process, it turned Favre into a goat for the first time this year, something that will certainly be swept aside, even though if he had made magic at the end it would have been something you couldn't have stuck towels in your ears deep enough to avoid.
Fox could barely stand up in the Pittsburgh locker room after the game. As I asked him a question, he grimaced and closed his eyes.
"I have to get out of here," he said. "I'm feeling sick." With that, he walked away saying, "I'm feeling dizzy."
Earlier, when he was coherent enough to talk, he broke down his big play.
"The ball kind of just popped into my hands and I took off," Fox said. "We just rally to the ball when that happens."
Two times the Steelers had convoys to six, both at Favre's expense.
"My return was better," Woodley said to Fox as he settled next to him at his locker.
I would say it was harder. Woodley got his when Keisel knocked the ball free from Favre, and Woodley picked it up and raced down the right sideline for the score. It was the same sideline that James Harrison raced down in the Super Bowl last February on his 100-yard interception return for a touchdown -- the same sideline Fox used.
What is it with Steelers linebackers and that sideline?
"I saw the ball come out and I saw it lying on the ground," Woodley said. "My thought process was to fall on it, or pick it up. I decided to pick it up. I was taking a chance. But then, when you pick it up, you might as well get what you can get and make something out of it. I made a touchdown out of it."
And ruined Mr. Comeback's chance to hog the glory.
Favre did have the 334 passing yards, but had just 92 on 10 completions in the first half. He never challenged down the field. When he did in the second half, he made some plays, although even some of those were great plays by the receiver.
If he gets the benefit of the doubt for the bad hands by Taylor on the screen pass, he gets a demerit for his way-high throw that Sidney Rice somehow turned into a 25-yard catch for a first down on the sideline in the fourth quarter.
Am I picking a bit too hard? Maybe, but somebody has to balance the love-fest that seems to follow Favre wherever he goes. Was he great Sunday? Far from it. Was he terrible? Not entirely.
Was he Mr. Come Back to Reality instead of Mr. Comeback? You bet.
Only time will tell if it's the start of Favre looking his age.
