Aug 9, 2015 4 min read

CANTON, Ohio – It’s a good thing Jerome Bettis’ Pro Football Hall of Fame induction wasn’t tied to the Steelers’ performance Sunday night against the Minnesota Vikings.

It might not have happened.

Playing without many of their starters, the Steelers were beaten by the Vikings, 14-3, in the Hall of Fame Game.

With the Steelers sitting eight starters, including star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, running back Le’Veon Bell and wide receiver Antonio Brown, it was a game for the Pittsburgh backups to show something.

That didn’t happen, at least not consistently enough to score many points.

It wasn’t all bad for the Steelers as third-year quarterback Landry Jones had a solid first half, completing 10 of 18 passes for 102 yards while working with a mix of starters and backups. He finished 16 of 32 for 135 yards.

“Landry has been looking awesome and really improved this camp,” said Steelers guard David DeCastro. “He’s been looking really good and getting a lot of reps. He’s making the most of it, which is what you want to see from a guy.”

The Vikings, who played most of their starters in the first series with the notable exception of running back Adrian Peterson, had an opportunity to score on their opening possession, taking the ball from their own 39-yard line deep into Pittsburgh territory.

On third-and-9 from the 18, Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater connected on a pass to wide receiver Jarius Wright, but linebacker Lawrence Timmons closed quickly and held Wright to an 8-yard gain.

That proved to be critical as on fourth-and-1 linebacker Ryan Shazier shot through the line of scrimmage and slowed running back Jerick McKinnon long enough for nose tackle Steve McLendon to stop him for no gain and turn the ball over on downs.

“I felt like we’re setting the tone of being a physical defense,” said Timmons. “That’s what we want to see.”

The game remained scoreless into the second quarter. Jones threw a 35-yard completion to the Vikings’ 16 to receiver Shakim Phillips, who was being held by Minnesota’s first-round draft pick, cornerback Trae Waynes. The Steelers declined the holding penalty, but the Pittsburgh settled for a 36-yard field goal by Shaun Suisham for a 3-0 lead.

Minnesota took the lead, however, on its next possession, with Matt Asiata breaking free for an 18-yard run that helped set up a 34-yard touchdown pass from reserve quarterback Mike Kafka to tight end MyCole Pruitt.

Pruitt was all alone behind the Steelers’ zone defense on what appeared to be a blown coverage and gave Minnesota a 7-3 lead.

The Steelers drove to the Minnesota 2 – with the help of a 38-yard pass interference penalty on Waynes against Sammie Coates – but failed on four attempts from there, the last was a dropped pass by tight end Jesse James on an inside screen. Jones could have easily backed into the end zone had he caught the pass.

The Vikings got a 62-yard punt return from Stefon Diggs on which reserve cornerback Kevin Fogg saved a touchdown with a tackle at the 1-yard line in the third quarter to take a 14-3 lead on a TD run by Joe Banyard.

Fogg later made a big play, intercepting a pass that went through the hands of tight end Chase Ford at the Minnesota 31. But on the very next play, James had a pass from Jones bounce out of his hands and into the hands of linebacker Brian Peters.

Starting right tackle Marcus Gilbert was poked in the eye in the first quarter. He did not return and was replaced by Mitchell Van Dyk. … Suisham suffered knee injury and did return. … Running back Cameron Stingily suffered a knee injury and did not return. … Defensive lineman Ethan Hemer had a sack for the Steelers. … Pittsburgh had 68 rushing yards.