Pittsburgh Steelers shut down Minnesota Vikings 26-9

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Ben Roethlisberger threw a pair of first-half touchdown passes, Le’Veon Bell ran for 87 yards and the Pittsburgh Steelers kept the Minnesota Vikings in check during a 26-9 victory on Sunday.

Roethlisberger hit Martavis Bryant for a 27-yard score in the first quarter and flipped a shovel pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster that the rookie turned into a 4-yard score . Roethlisberger finished 23 of 35 for 243 yards and the two scores as the Steelers (2-0) improved to 10-1 in home openers under Mike Tomlin.

Minnesota (1-1) played without quarterback Sam Bradford, who sat out with a left-knee injury. Case Keenum struggled to get anything going in Bradford’s absence, throwing for just 167 yards on 20 of 35 passing.

Vikings rookie Dalvin Cook ran for 64 yards, but Minnesota failed to generate any real momentum against Pittsburgh’s rejuvenated defense.

Pittsburgh’s “Killer B” offense didn’t exactly light it up in Cleveland in a methodical Week 1 victory. Head coach Mike Tomlin pointed to marked improvement in Week 2 and while the fireworks most expected did not materialize, Bryant and Bell both took significant steps forward.

Bryant caught three passes for 90 yards, including his first touchdown in 20 months and also drew a pass interference penalty that set up Smith-Schuster’s score. Both Steeler wide receivers took advantage of the NFL’s relaxed celebration rules, imitating rolling dice while being surrounded by teammates.