The GM’s View: Reactions after Vikings hang on to beat Pittsburgh
Jeff Diamond
|
Vikings Insider, The GM’s View
“Just get the W—in 3 weeks nobody will remember how it happened.” That was always my message to players and coaches during my NFL management career.
Well, I think in the case of this Vikings team, everyone is going to remember for a long time Thursday night’s tale of two halves that ended with a near touchdown pass that could have sent the game to overtime (with a two point conversion). In fact, so many games in this bizarre season will be hard for Vikings fans to forget.
In their best half of the season, the Purple built a 23-0 lead at the break. They had terrific blocking (including utilizing Blake Brandel as a sixth O-lineman on many successful running plays early) for Dalvin Cook who showed grit in shaking off his shoulder injury with a team-record 153 rushing yards in the first half. Cook finished with 205 yards and 2 TDs on the ground, the most in the league this year.
Meanwhile the Vikings front seven dominated on defense as Mike Zimmer sent timely blitzes (unlike late in last week’s loss in Detroit) and the front four was quickly in the backfield, overwhelming the Steelers offensive line and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger with four sacks while stuffing the run.
Even as the Vikings built their lead to 29-0 late in the third quarter, it wasn’t to the point where Vikings fans could get an early start home from loud U.S. Bank Stadium, nor could the TV viewing audience head off to bed. Not if they’d watched this Vikings team and their penchant for one score, down to the wire games.
Sure enough, the Vikings opened the door with defensive breakdowns and penalties while Kirk Cousins threw two costly interceptions when the Vikings should’ve stuck mainly to their running game. The Pittsburgh O-line woke up and opened holes for Najee Harris (77 rushing yards and 1 TD in the second half) while adjusting their protection for Roethlisberger who heated up as he wisely went after the Vikings suspect cornerbacks. And the talented Steeler receivers made great leaping catches even when covered.
So what looked like a laugher turned into another stressful game that came down to another final play determining the outcome. Fortunately, unlike Jared Goff last week, Roethlisberger didn’t throw at the corners but fired a strike to tight end Pat Freiermuth who made the catch for an instant before Harrison Smith saved the victory by dislodging the ball.
When Zimmer was asked post-game if at any point he was thinking “Here we go again,” he said “The whole time in the second half. Yeah.” He added, “The team that played for us in the first half was pretty darn good and could probably beat anybody. The team that played in the second half probably could get beat by anybody.” So true, coach.
Bottom line, as I also told my teams–a win is a win and that’s all that ultimately matters. Now the Vikings have a mini-bye weekend before preparing for a Monday nighter against the Bears at chilly Soldier Field. ESPN has to be thrilled that the Minnesota Vikings beat the Pittsburgh Steelers to remain in playoff contention and the network bigwigs can be confident Minnesota vs. Chicago will be an exciting one-score game that will be decided late, keeping another national TV audience from going to bed early.
Here are my other reactions to this critical Vikings win:
1.Major kudos to Cook: His speed, quick cuts and superior vision and decision making are what make him one of the top three running backs in the NFL. He also is a good receiver and his third down, 17 yard catch over the middle on the Vikings last drive helped run the clock down. Zimmer said of his star back, “He’s a warrior, he’s a great leader, a great competitor. There was no doubt in his mind he was playing tonight.”
2. Cousins has to be better: Kirk was OK (not great) in the first half as the Steelers let Justin Jefferson run free on several occasions (6 catches, 67 yards and a TD by halftime but Cousins missed him wide open deep before the Steelers doubled him throughout the second half).
Cousins was locking in on his primary receiver and forced throws to Jefferson and K.J. Osborn when they were well covered, resulting in interceptions that helped fuel Pittsburgh’s rally. He was under more pressure in the second half even though Steelers star pass rusher T. J. Watt had left the game with a groin injury. The Vikings also missed the injured Adam Thielen who makes so many first down and TD receptions. Osborn is terrific with Jefferson and Thielen but Dede Westbrook had no receptions in 29 snaps as the third receiver so he was a non-factor offensively.
It’s fine to target Jefferson 15 times but when the double coverage includes a player such as Pro Bowl safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, then it’s time to look elsewhere as Cousins did on a much-needed 62-yard fourth quarter TD to Osborn and the 17-yarder for the critical first down to Cook. Cousins should have looked more to his excellent tight end Tyler Conklin and No. 2 tight end Chris Herndon who combined for three catches on all three of their targets for 37 yards.
3. Momentum shifts are hard to stop: that’s the overriding message Zimmer is surely telling his team. They can’t allow a team to rally as Pittsburgh did in what was almost the biggest comeback in NFL regular season history.
4. Hard to feel confident about the Vikings corners: Bashaud Breeland had a nice third quarter interception but he looked bad on Chase Claypool’s last drive 38 yard bomb that Claypool caught as Breeland was flagged for interference and he gave up an easy 4th-and-1 reception to Claypool on that drive. Cam Dantzler’s pass interference on the goal line set up a TD (after his final play fiasco last week).
Even Peterson got beat for a 30 yard TD by James Washington and missed a tackle on Diontae Johnson on the game’s second to last play that would’ve run out the clock if he had prevented him from running out of bounds. Vikings coaches should scheme so Breeland or Dantzler are never in single coverage on the opposing team’s top receivers.
For the Vikings to be playoff-worthy on defense, the front seven is going to have to play like they did in the first half against Pittsburgh and/or safeties Smith and Xavier Woods will have to constantly double cover top receivers. It’s for certain that the offense is going to have to carry this team and the quarterback has to play like he did against the Chargers and Packers and be more consistent than he’s been the last two games.
5. The Vikings won the special teams battle: punter Jordan Berry (an ex-Steeler) averaged 48.7 yards, six yards per punt better than Pressley Harvin and Berry’s 51 yarder pinned the Steelers deep before their last drive; Westbrook had three punt returns for 31 yards to help field position and the Vikings coverage units were excellent. The only concern was Greg Joseph missing his first two kicks (a 53-yard field goal and an extra point) but he rebounded to make his next six kicks (three field goals and three PATs).
6. What might have been: There’s no doubt the Vikings would’ve beat the Lions if they had Cook, Eric Kendricks, Anthony Barr and Peterson in the lineup. And they probably would’ve beaten the Ravens in that overtime loss if Smith had not been on the Covid list. Not to mention Michael Pierce missing seven games and Dalvin Tomlinson on the Covid list when he missed the 49ers loss. The defensive tackle rotation was terrific for most of the Steeler game with Armon Watts effectively joining Pierce and Tomlinson (both Watts and Pierce had sacks).
Every team deals with injuries and Covid cases but for the Vikings, it’s been to so many of their highest paid players, testing their depth. I know all about ifs and buts in the sports biz but I believe this Vikings team should be at least 8-5 and perhaps closer to 10-3 if not for so many injuries, Covid issues and end of game miscues.
Hopefully Thielen and left tackle Christian Darrisaw can return in Chicago so the Vikings will be as close to full strength as they’ve been (and wouldn’t a healthy Danielle Hunter have been nice for this stretch run!).
Around the NFL Observations:
1.Bulletin board material from the Cowboys head coach: Heading into a big NFC East matchup at Washington on Sunday, Dallas Coach Mike McCarthy said, “We’re going to win this game.” Washington Coach Ron Rivera countered with, “It’s interesting. I think it’s a big mistake.”
2. The Vikings and their fans will be cheering for a Dallas victory and a San Francisco loss at Cincinnati on Sunday. That would tie 6-7 Minnesota with Washington and the 49ers for the sixth and seventh playoff spots in the NFC.
Jeff Diamond is a former Vikings GM, former Tennessee Titans President and was selected NFL Executive of the Year after the Vikings’ 15-1 season in 1998. He now works for the NFL agent group IFA based in Minneapolis and does other sports consulting and media work along with college/corporate speaking. Follow him and direct message him on Twitter– @jeffdiamondnfl
You must be logged in to post a comment.