Minneapolis.— After another dramatic shutdown, head coach Mike Zimmer made no attempt to hide his despair over the way the Minnesota Vikings squandered big leads to put themselves in precarious late-game situations.
The Vikings had a 23-point lead at halftime Thursday night. Even after increasing the difference to 29-0 midway through the third quarter, they squandered their good positions on the ground and had to settle for field goals, when if they had scored a touchdown they would have finished off the Pittsburgh Steelers sooner.
Could it be that the Vikings thought “here we go again” with a four-possession offensive advantage at home?
“Throughout the second half, of course,” Zimmer said.
The anguish remained throughout the stadium until the last play of the game. With the Steelers down 28-36, 12 yards from scoring and with a chance to tie via a two-point conversion, Ben Roethlisberger threw a pass that landed in the hands of rookie tight end Pat Freiermuth, but escaped thanks to the intervention of safeties Harrison Smith and Xavier Woods to ensure that Minnesota urgently required.
“The team that played the first half was really good and I think they can beat anyone,” said Zimmer, who has watched from the sideline as the Vikings lose four games on the last play this season. “The team that played in the second half could well lose to anyone.”
The Vikings (6-7) keep alive their aspirations to win one of the last two walks as wild cards in the National Conference, despite being one of seven teams that reached week 14 of the season with six or seven losses. .
With the playoffs expanded, they will remain in the fight until the close of the season. They are the only team in the league without a loss by more than eight points difference. Even Arizona, Green Bay and New England have fallen due to greater differences.
“I am trying to teach the players how to close matches. We’ve talked about it all the time, about taking care of the details in his work, ”Zimmer said.
When loose leads are wasted, looks are usually on defense. But Kirk Cousins and company, while they have been productive with the ball all year, must share the blame for failing to deliver the final blows in games where Minnesota has been in control only to collapse in the final second.
Even with flawless offensive line work crushing the Steelers and in a game where Dalvin Cook rushed for 205 yards, there were hints of trouble with Adam Thielen’s absence. Cousins frequently hit an unmarked Justin Jefferson, even on a touchdown pass on a trick play, but the normally accurate quarterback missed passes multiple times.
Cousins finished with 14 of 31 completions and two interceptions. It was only the fourth time in 117 career games that he failed to complete at least half of his passes. That had only happened twice playing for Minnesota; in 2019 in Green Bay and in Indianapolis in 2020.
It works
The Vikings used a mix of their favorite zone blocking system and a traditional one to finish with 242 rushing yards, an average of 6.7 yards per attempt. It was his best running record in 21 games.
Missing
Corner Bashaud Breeland fell ill and missed much of the second half for that reason. Cameron Dantzler and Kris Boyd fell victim to Ben Roethlisberger when leading the reaction attempt. Having Patrick Peterson back in the lineup gave the Vikings variation at that position.
