Despite going ahead by almost 30 points, the Minnesota Vikings had to escape to get a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night.
Nothing is ever easy for the Minnesota Vikings this season. Except for their Week 3 win over the Seattle Seahawks, every game for the Vikings this year has basically come down to the final drive. This trend continued on Thursday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Minnesota jumped out to a monster 29-point lead in the third quarter and the matchup seemed heavily in their control. But as Vikings fans have learned all season long, no lead is safe when it comes to this year’s squad.
The Steelers climbed back into the contest in the second half, scoring 28 points in the final two quarters, and they had a chance to tie the game on the final offensive drive of the night.
Thankfully, Minnesota was able to escape the field on Thursday with the win by a final score of 36-28. Still, the result turned out to be much closer than it should have been, and the Vikings have plenty to work on before they face their next opponent.
Quick thoughts on the Vikings win over the Steelers
Cook sets the field on fire in return: Most didn’t even expect Dalvin Cook to be available for Thursday’s game, including the Vikings. But Cook’s recovery from his shoulder injury progressed fast enough in time for him to take the field against the Steelers and Minnesota was definitely happy to have him back.
The Vikings’ top running back embarrassed Pittsburgh’s defense on Thursday. In just the first half alone, Cook rushed for 153 yards and two touchdowns. He finished the matchup with 205 yards on the ground.
Defense looks dominant in first half: For what feels like the first time all season, Minnesota’s defense looked like it used to during the team’s first few years with Mike Zimmer as their head coach. Well, at least they did for the first two quarters
The Vikings’ defense has ranked near the bottom third of the NFL this season, but with the returns of Eric Kendricks, Anthony Barr, and Patrick Peterson, the unit completely shut down the Steelers’ offense in the first half on Thursday night.
During the opening two quarters, Minnesota held Pittsburgh to just 66 yards and the Vikings were able to sack Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger four times.
Obviously, the second half was a different story.
More quick thoughts from Minnesota’s win over Pittsburgh
Jefferson still makes a difference without Thielen: After injuring his ankle last week, Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen sat out Thursday’s game against the Steelers. Naturally, most assumed Pittsburgh would have an easier time dealing with Justin Jefferson without Thielen on the field. But Jefferson made sure their night was still difficult.
Jefferson only finished with seven catches for 79 yards and one touchdown, but his production felt like it came easy on Thursday, and the majority of it came in the first half when Minnesota went into the locker room up by a score of 23-0.
Extra offensive lineman clears big holes: With left tackle Christian Darrisaw still out, the Vikings trotted out their makeshift starting offensive line for the second game in a row. This week, however, Minnesota used six offensive linemen several times against the Steelers and it resulted in a number of big gains by the Vikings’ rushing attack.
This is definitely something to keep an eye on and possibly something Minnesota should continue to use in future games considering how successful it was on Thursday.
Boyd proves why he doesn’t get on the field: With some of the struggles of guys like Cameron Dantzler and Bashaud Breeland during the last few weeks, some have wondered why cornerback Kris Boyd hasn’t been given much of a chance to get some snaps on defense.
Well, he proved why on Thursday night after making a tackle and picking up a 15-yard taunting penalty that helped Pittsburgh end an offensive drive with a touchdown. If Boyd wants to get more opportunities on defense, getting flagged for dumb taunting penalties certainly isn’t going to help that happen.
Even more quick thoughts from Minnesota’s win over Pittsburgh
Blood pressure was way too high at the end: Despite the Vikings having a 29-point lead early in the third quarter, the Steelers found a way to only be down by eight points with less than two minutes to go in the fourth quarter.
Luckily, Minnesota was able to hold for the win or Mike Zimmer probably wouldn’t have made it out of the stadium with a job.
Thursday’s result shouldn’t change Zimmer’s fate: Despite the win on Thursday, the Vikings’ current plan should still be to move on from Mike Zimmer after the season. Minnesota can’t even feel comfortable with a 29-point lead this year.
It was nice for the Vikings to leave the field with a victory over Pittsburgh and remain in the NFC playoff race, but big changes still need to be made in Minnesota after the season.
Vikings get a mini-bye before next game: With this week’s matchup taking place on a Thursday and the next game on their schedule happening on a Monday night, Minnesota is going to have a bunch of extra time to heal and rest up before heading out on the road to take on the Chicago Bears in Week 15.
The extra time off should prove to be beneficial for guys like Dalvin Cook, Adam Thielen, and Christian Darrisaw. Games in Chicago are always difficult for the Vikings, so they’ll need all the help they can get to try and get their record back to .500 next week.