Big plays cause big headaches

While Vikings coach Brad Childress had to be pleased his defense held Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to 175 yards passing Sunday, he couldn't have been happy that, for the second consecutive game, an opponent used explosive plays to move quickly down the field near the end of the opening half.

The Vikings consider an explosive play to be a run of 12 or more yards or a pass of 16 or more yards.

In the Vikings' 33-31 victory over Baltimore in Week 6, the Ravens took possession at their own 18-yard line with 1 minute, 47 seconds left in the second quarter and drove to the Vikings 11. Steve Hauschka then made a 29-yard field goal to pull Baltimore within 14-3. Key plays included back-to-back completions of 22 and 23 yards by quarterback Joe Flacco.

In Sunday's 27-17 loss in Pittsburgh, the Vikings had a 7-3 lead when the Steelers got the ball at their own 9-yard line with 1:39 left in the first half. Pittsburgh drove to its own 38 when Roethlisberger connected with Mike Wallace on a 22-yard completion. Roethlisberger, who entered the game leading the NFL in passing yards, stopped the clock by spiking the ball at the Vikings 40, then hit Wallace for a 40-yard touchdown. Pittsburgh never trailed again.

"I just think in general on defense situationally, you hate to see two explosions happen before the half," Childress said. "The thing on defense is putting the whole thing together. Being able to play short- yardage situations, third-down situations, two-minute situations. That was a lapse."

The defense gave up 10 explosive plays against the Ravens, including touchdown runs of 22 and 33 yards by Ray Rice, and seven against the Steelers, including four rushing.

"It is uncharacteristic, and I can't really tell you why it's happening or what's going on," linebacker Ben Leber said. "I think sometimes it's just teams are hitting the spots or hitting the holes or just a good call on their parts. We definitely want to correct those things but it's kind of hard to sit there and say, 'Hey, we're going to stop all explosive plays,' because you get too conservative at that point."

The case of Vikings Pro Bowl tackles Kevin and Pat Williams will get a hearing in Congress next Tuesday before the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.

The panel is scheduled to hear from NFL players and league executives to review a Minnesota law that allowed the Williamses to fight their drug suspensions in court. In a challenge to the NFL, the two players argued that Minnesota's drug testing laws prevented the league from suspending them after testing positive for a banned substance in the over-the-counter diuretic StarCaps.

The NFL has lobbied Congress to intervene to defend its drug testing program.

Mike Pereira, the NFL's vice president of officiating, will address the fourth-quarter tripping call against the Vikings' Jeff Dugan on Sunday during "Total Access" on the NFL Network at 6 tonight.

The controversial flag wiped out Brett Favre's 10-yard touchdown pass to Sidney Rice. That would have given the Vikings a 17-13 lead. Instead, the drive ended with Favre having the football tipped out of his hand and the Steelers' LaMarr Woodley returning it for a 77-yard touchdown.

Childress said Monday that he had a conversation with Pereira to discuss the call and did not hide the fact he wasn't happy about it.

• Favre's next passing touchdown will give him 13 this season. That will be one more than any Vikings quarterback has had over the past four years. Favre's 12 touchdowns this season are tied with Gus Frerotte's 12 in 2008.

• Sidney Rice has 312 receiving yards the past two weeks, the fifth most over a two-game span in Vikings history. No receiver in the NFL has more yards over the past two weeks than Rice. He also can become the first Vikings player to have three consecutive games with 100-plus yards receiving since Randy Moss had four in a row from Dec. 15, 2002 to Sept. 7, 2003.

• Kevin Williams leads all defensive tackles with five sacks.

• Quarterback John David Booty, who was released from the Vikings practice squad twice in recent weeks, had a workout with the Houston Texans on Tuesday, according to the website ProFootballTalk.com.

Staff writer Kevin Diaz contributed to this notebook.