Vikings: A corner concern

The Vikings might be 6-0 this season, but little seems to be going right of late for the team's pass defense.

Baltimore's Joe Flacco passed for 385 yards Sunday, including 196 in the fourth quarter, as the Ravens came back from 17 points down to take a lead before losing 33-31. As a result, the Vikings pass defense fell six spots to 24th in the NFL. The Vikings gave up an average of 184 passing yards in their first three games but 355.3 yards over the past three.

And things aren't about to get any easier. The Vikings will spend the week preparing to face the NFL's second-ranked passing offense Sunday at Pittsburgh, and they might have to try to slow Ben Roethlisberger and Co. without Antoine Winfield.

An MRI on Monday showed Winfield suffered a sprained right foot in the second quarter of Sunday's game. The Pro Bowl cornerback, who was unable to play in the second half, wore a walking boot in the Vikings' Winter Park locker room Monday and declined to speak to reporters because he was headed to receive treatment.

"People heal so differently it's hard to know," coach Brad Childress said when asked if Winfield might miss Sunday's game. "Guys have different recuperative skills and I'm not going to rule him in or rule him out at this point."

But Childress and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier will need to make contingency plans just in case.

Karl Paymah, who started five games in four seasons with the Denver Broncos before signing with the Vikings in March, replaced Winfield on Sunday and was victimized on Mark Clayton's 32-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter. Paymah's value lies in his ability on special teams, and it's no certainty he would start if Winfield can't.

Another option would be to move nickel back Benny Sapp to the left corner and have third-round pick Asher Allen play in the nickel. However, Allen has yet to play in a game this season. Safety Husain Abdullah also could play in the nickel; he got nine snaps in that role against Baltimore.

"We have not even gone there yet," Childress said of the possible scenarios. "We just got done with the grades [from Sunday's game] and talking about personnel in terms of who played what and how many plays did they have? How well did they do? So we haven't even started to address some of that."

No matter what is decided, the Vikings defense is going to have to show improvement against the pass or run the risk of no longer being undefeated after facing the defending Super Bowl champions at Heinz Field.

The Steelers (4-2) are averaging 296.7 passing yards, second to Indianapolis' 326; the Vikings are giving up an average of 248.3 yards through the air. Roethlisberger leads the NFL in passing yards (1,887) and Hines Ward is tops in receiving yards (599) and tied for No. 1 in receptions (41, with the Giants' Steve Smith). The Steelers also have one of the league's top receiving tight ends in Heath Miller (34 catches, 315 yards, four touchdowns).

The real issue for the Vikings against the Ravens was their fourth-quarter meltdown. A late-game collapse caused in part by having a significant lead doesn't figure to be an issue at Heinz Field, but that doesn't mean the issue isn't being addressed at Winter Park -- especially after the Packers' Aaron Rodgers passed for 138 of his 384 yards in the fourth quarter in Week 4 against the Vikings.

"[Defensive coordinator] Les [Frazier] was talking about, we've got to work in practice, as far as closing games out, playing four quarters of football," Paymah said. "Just going out there and keeping the pressure on. That's where we slacked off, in the fourth quarter, when things started to fall apart, with the missed tackles and the calls coming in late. It was a combination of mistakes. We have just got to clean those things up."

Childress couldn't agree more.

"Missed tackles will kill you, particularly in air, in space," Childress said. "Then in a couple of instances we had missed assignments where, A, a guy is not doing what he should do, or, B, a missed communication where everyone is doing one thing and somebody else is doing another thing. ... [We are] trying to do too much. I think you go back and [say] you can't stop every play. Every defense has a strength and weakness, and it's just more important for our guys to understand where the strength is and where the weakness is and play to it."