Coming off a week when the Vikings offense passed its first true test against a staunch Baltimore defense, the hype going into the Week 7 matchup in Pittsburgh was is Brett Favre still for real against the cream of the crop? Or was his 278-yard, three-TD performance against Ray Lewis’ Ravens merely an anomaly? And through most of the Steelers game, the answer was yes, the old-gunslinger does still have it - that was until the pressure was brought and the pocket collapsed. The Steelers defense upheld the potent Vikings offense and gave Minnesota its first loss of 2009. Let’s take a look at the Vikings’ 27-17 loss in the Steel City.

Quarterback: Give Favre a lot of credit for keeping his team even for three-and-a-half quarters and for throwing for 334 yards. His lone mistake was the fumble that was returned for a 77-yard TD by LaMarr Woodley. I won’t blame the interception on him - that was on Chester Taylor despite some critics saying Favre threw it high. Unfortunately his one mistake was enough to cost his team the game, because he played well. Grade: B+

Running backs: Adrian Peterson showed why he’s the best, totaling 129 total yards and a touchdown including a bone-crushing hit on Steelers corner William Gay on the team’s second-to-last drive. But that play turned out to be huge when AP took a breather, because on the next play a Favre screen-pass intended for Taylor was dropped and deflected into the hands on Kenyaron Fox, who took it 82 yards the other way to put the game away. Grade for Peterson: A. Grade for Taylor: F. Average Grade: B

Receivers: Sydney Rice is quickly showing why he is the team’s new go-to receiver after another clutch performance, catching 11 balls for 136 yards. After him the ball was dispersed very evenly, as Peterson, Shiancoe and Greg Lewis caught four balls, Harvin and Tahi three and Berrian two. This group came up with big plays when they had to. Grade: A-

Offensive Line: They did an OK job of protecting Favre considering it’s the Steelers except when it counted. They gave up four sacks and six knockdowns of Favre for the game. If there was one aspect of the Vikings to point the finger at beside Taylor, they were it. Grade: C-

Defensive Front Seven: It’s not that their defense played bad - anytime you can hold a team to 13 offensive points, much less the World Champions, it’s a job well done. But what we did see this week was that Jared Allen can be stopped, as Max Starks and Willie Colon held him sackless for just the third time this season. They group only managed three hits total on Ben Roethlisberger, not nearly enough to keep him uncomfortable, and allowed Rashard Mendenhall and Co. 100-plus yards on the ground.  Grade: C+

Secondary: Aside from two big plays: rookie Mike Wallace burning Tyrell Johnson and Madieu Williams for a 40-yard TD with 24 seconds left in the half and a 45-yard cross to Santonio Holmes to start the fourth quarter, they held Roethlisberger in check to 12 of 24 for just 90 yards. And negating those plays, his leading receiver was tight end Heath Miller, who had six catches for 38 yards. Solid performance if they prevent the big plays. Grade: B+

Special Teams: Despite the bad shoulder, Percy Harvin is proving that he is a prime-time player, immediately responding to the Steelers’ first defensive touchdown on the ensuing kickoff with an 88-yard return to pay dirt that put the Vikings right back in the game. Ryan Longwell and Chris Kluwe did their good work as usual. Grade: A

Coaching: They should be proud of the fact that they went into one of the most hostile environments and hung tough, but where was the pressure on Roethlisberger? On the Steelers' scoring drive to end the half, they brought only four on each play. Still, give them credit, their defense did just enough to put the offense in position to win, and the O didn’t execute in crunch time. Grade: B

--PATRICK STUMPF