A decade passed between Keyaron Fox touchdowns. His last one before yesterday was long ago and far away at Atlanta's Westlake High, in another football galaxy on offense as a tight end.

Plugged into a patchwork Steelers defense yesterday afternoon, when inside linebacker Lawrence Timmons limped off with an ankle injury and left defensive end Travis Kirschke hobbled off with a calf malady, Fox made the decisive play, the decisive score. His 82-yard interception return with 60 seconds remaining capped a wild, three-touchdowns-in-5 1/2-minutes fourth quarter of a 27-17 Steelers triumph against previously unbeaten Minnesota. And his day of work provided a small jolt to a defense with a couple of fourth-quarter meltdowns already in 2009.

There was no immediate prognosis for Timmons, whom Fox replaced after the starter was hurt on LaMarr Woodley's fumble return for a touchdown, and Kirschke, who was injured five plays earlier and supplanted by Nick Eason. An off week could help both to heal.

Fox, a six-year veteran who spent the previous four seasons with Kansas City, isn't new to all this. He has four career starts.

He is new to this NFL touchdown business, though.

Thirteen snaps after Woodley rumbled 77 yards with a cordon of blockers, with the Vikings (6-1) trailing just 20-17 and driving, Brett Favre dumped a screen pass to the left for Chester Taylor around the Steelers' 19. Right defensive end Brett Keisel -- who stripped Favre to arrange Woodley's jaunt -- threw himself into Taylor as the pass arrived, and the football skittered off Taylor's outstretched hands and into Fox's belly.

"They got kind of jammed up; Brett tried to force it in there," remembered Fox, who teamed with James Farrior to repel Adrian Peterson on first down from the Steelers' 1 on a key, third-quarter goalline stand. "It fell right into my lap. I thought about stepping out of bounds and letting the offense run out the clock." But given a chance "to be the hero ... I took full advantage of that.

"I had run across the field to tackle Peterson two plays before. I was winded. It definitely felt like a 100-plus yards to me. It took me three minutes to get back to the sideline."

It was the first time in some 185 games that the Steelers scored a pair of defensive touchdowns. Cornerback Dewayne Washington returned two interceptions against Jacksonville Nov. 22, 1998, more than a decade ago.

Troy Polamalu wore the knee brace this time.

And he flitted around Heinz Field at the start, showing no signs of the MCL sprain that sidelined him for 4 1/2 games.

"I felt good at the beginning. As the game wore on. ..." added Polamalu, who finished with six tackles, all solo.

The brace, which he shed after having problems during the Cleveland pregame warmup Oct. 18, allowed him to feel "good enough." On Woodley's return, however, Polamalu said, "I was taking my oxygen on that play, just watching."

It's conceivable Polamalu, much like this past week, will skip practice Wednesday and Thursday to allow the left knee to rest further. Asked if the off week comes at a good time, he said, "No question."

On a day when Jeff Reed was admittedly grateful for an opportunity to play after being cited by police for disorderly conduct and public intoxication a week ago, he was confessing to blame on Percy Harvin's 88-yard kickoff return immediately after Woodley's score in the fourth quarter.

"It's not good, two weeks in a row," said Reed, who saw Cleveland's Josh Cribbs run back one 98 yards last Sunday. "It's not good enough."

The wind in his face, Reed tried to pop up the kick and help his teammates. "The thing about it, he got a clear chute to me, and I was indecisive about which way to go." Instead of defending the sideline and funneling Harvin back toward the field's middle, Reed elected to push Harvin toward the sideline -- but not out.

"We had all the [momentum] in the world, that stadium was the loudest it could be, and it all turned in 15 seconds."

On Harvin's return, tight end Jeff Dugan accidentally hit back judge Rich Reels, who was injured and left the game temporarily.

As for playing yesterday Reed said, "This organization gave me an opportunity to get back on the field. ... I'm not going to let them down. I'm not going to go out there and be a mental case. But I can't lie: It has been in my head all week."

Rookie receiver Mike Wallace, on a second consecutive post-pattern play called by Ben Roethlisberger, bolted 40 yards for a touchdown 24 seconds before halftime and then somersaulted into the end zone.

"I think it was an 8 or a 9 on the execution scale," Wallace said. "I had to think fast. I had to make sure I didn't land on my head or back."

Keisel, who admitted to grabbing a photo op with Favre when the Steelers last played him in Green Bay in 2005 (when Polamalu, for the record, scored a defensive touchdown), had a hand in both scores off the 2009 Vikings starting quarterback. He stripped Favre of the ball on the sack that set up Woodley's touchdown and claimed a legal collision with the intended receiver was of assistance on Fox's pick-six.

So he didn't think it was appropriate to ask Favre for another snapshot, especially since the last one came out badly when Keisel inadvertently closed his eyes when it was taken.

"Hopefully," he said, "someone got a picture of the strip."

Halfback Mewelde Moore, who spent his first four seasons in Minnesota, said he gave some tips to his teammates this week about what to expect from the Vikings. Moore said he tried to alert the Steelers to certain tendencies of some of the Vikings players.

"People have characteristics," Moore said. But that was two years ago, and there have been a lot of adjustments at Minnesota since he left, right? "Things change," Moore countered. "People normally don't."

Hines Ward had only one catch, for a meager 3 yards -- and it came early, in the first quarter.

Still and all, it extended his streak to 169 consecutive games with a catch.

Once in each of the past two seasons he has continued the streak with just a single catch, against Dallas last December and San Francisco in 2007.

Favre's favorite target was third-year wide receiver Sidney Rice, who caught a career-high 11 passes for 136 yards.

"I think we did a pretty good job today," Rice said. But the Steelers "stood their ground and won the game."

"The penalties put us in a hole," Rice said of a fourth-quarter drive that started at the Vikings' 3 and ended on that fumble on a third-and-goal at the Steelers' 8. Minnesota was called for three penalties in four plays and four infractions for 30 yards on the drive -- the last one, a tripping call on Jeff Dugan, nullifying a Favre-to-Rice touchdown.

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