The 2021 Minnesota Vikings Put Entertainment First: Three Takeaways from Another Last-Second Victory
Josh Frey
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Well, that was fun, huh? The Minnesota Vikings (6-7) held on at U.S. bank Stadium on Thursday night to defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers (6-6-1), 36-28. Yet another one possession game; yet another outcome decided on the final play. The Vikings completely dominated the first half and change of this game, jumping out to a 29-0 lead in the third quarter. The catalyst of this offensive outburst was none other than Dalvin Cook, who returned to action just 11 days after dislocating his shoulder and tearing his labrum. He finished the day with 205 yards and a pair of rushing TDs.
But that just simply isn’t the Vikings way. No, they couldn’t just call it a day after stomping all over this lifeless Steelers team. Instead, they stepped off Pittsburgh’s throats, letting them come up for air one last time. Pittsburgh went on a 22-0 scoring run, and eventually cut the score to 36-28 with one last chance to tie it up at the end of the fourth quarter. Naturally, the Vikings defense allowed them to get all the way to the Minnesota 12-yard line before a dropped pass to Pat Freiermuth in the end zone was the killing blow to Pittsburgh’s comeback. Here’s how the Vikings managed to put on a Hollywood ending once again.
Minnesota Decisively Won the Trenches
As much as the make-shift offensive line was criticized after the loss in Detroit, they overall played very well against Pittsbrugh. Granted, much of this game was played without T.J. Watt on the opposing side, so that made things a bit easier to handle. Even so, Dalvin Cook ran through wide open holes for most of the night.
Then on the other side, it was a terrific performance by the Vikings front. They sacked Ben Roethlisberger five times, and throughout that first half, they held rookie standout Najee Harris completely in check. Things changed a bit in the second half on the defensive side, but overall, the night was a victory for the Vikings trenches.
Be Glad the Vikings Have Justin Jefferson and not Chase Claypool
Even though the Steelers ultimately failed in their dramatic comeback attempt, there’s still a very good chance that we are having a completely different conversation if one snap plays out differently. As the Steelers were driving down the field, Ben Roethlisberger completed a 4th-and-1 pass to Chase Claypool for a nine-yard gain.
The catch kept Pittsburgh’s comeback attempt alive, but with no timeouts, the clock continued to run. The logical thing to do here would be to get the offense set up as soon as possible to spike the ball, right? Not in Claypool’s mind. No, instead he wasted another 10-12 seconds celebrating his catch with the ball. A play that should’ve taken 6-7 seconds tops ended up taking 17 seconds. If Pittsburgh had those 10 extra seconds, they easily have another shot or two at the end zone.
Meanwhile, Justin Jefferson didn’t have nearly his best game as a Viking. It was in fact arguably one of his worst games of his NFL career, and despite some bad drops, he still finished the night with 79 yards and a touchdown. Just be glad the Vikings have Jefferson rather than Claypool.
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Red Zone Woes Nearly Cost the 2021 Minnesota Vikings Another Win
The Vikings went into this game without Adam Thielen again, and if you read the Vikings fantasy football forecast, this gave me some serious doubts about this offense’s ability to score points. Turns out, those doubts were mostly valid; they just didn’t matter that much in the end as the Vikings were able to score two touchdowns from further than 25 yards out.
Of course, if the Vikings had lost this game, we would’ve spent more time talking about the missed field goal, missed XP, and three field goal attempts on drives that got inside the Pittsburgh 25. If Adam Thielen had been available, it’s a pretty safe bet that he would’ve been able to alleviate at least some of these struggles. Until he comes back though, the Vikings will have to find ways to capitalize on these opportunities.
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