Vikings Stave off Steelers for TNF Win

Yeah, the Vikings will never stop giving us all heart attacks on national television. 

Minnesota:
QB:
K. Cousins 14/31 216 yds 7.0 avg 2 TD 2 INT

RB:
D. Cook 27 car 205 yds 7.6 avg 2 TD 30 long (1 rec 17 yds)
A. Mattison 6 car 27 yds 4.5 avg 14 long

WR:
KJ Osborn 3 rec 83 yds 27.7 avg 1 TD 62 long
J. Jefferson 7 rec 79 yds 11.3 avg 1 TD 22 long
T. Conklin 2 rec 20 yds 20.0 avg 19 long

DEF:
B. Breeland 1 INT
E. Kendricks 1 sack
H. Smith 1 sack
S. Richardson 1 sack
M. Pierce 1 sack
A. Watts 1 sack

K:
G. Joseph 3/4 FG (42, 38, 25) 3/4 XP

Game Summary:
Wow, the Vikings wanted to lose that game. So Minnesota went up 23-0 at half. Dalvin Cook had an insane first half, he had 153 yards alone just in that half which breaks Adrian Peterson's franchise record set back in 2012. Cousins had a nice pass to Justin Jefferson in the first quarter to open everything up. The Vikings defense had a field day in the first half and obviously held Pittsburgh to no points well under 100 yards.
In the second half it was a completely different story. The Vikings did come out of half looking similar to the first half. The offense was making progress and kicked two field goals. The defense lots its muster towards the end of the 3rd quarter. It allowed a long drive from Pittsburgh for their first score. In the 4th quarter the Vikings allowed two more scores, both following a Kirk Cousins interception. Kirk's picks have been rare this year, but costly. Neither one you could say was purely his fault, but they weren't pretty either. It seemed like the Vikings finally got their act together in the middle of the 4th quarter when Cousins launched a long bomb to KJ Osborn for a 62 yard score. But the purple had other plans for us. They allowed another score from the Steelers in which they got their coveted 2-point conversion to make it an 8 point game. The Vikings were not able to bring the game to the 2-minute warning and had to punt it back to the Steelers. Pittsburgh got the ball back and was driving down the field. It all came down to a 1st and Goal from the 8 yard line with 3 seconds to go. Big Ben threw a pass over the middle to Freiermuth but Harrison Smith and Xavier Woods broke up the pass to seal the Vikings win!

I didn't recap last week's game because I didn't want to relive that hell again, so if yall were wondering why I didn't post that would be why. So after that loss this win does feel good. By no means does this means the Vikings are on a path to the playoffs but it does feel good.

Playoff Update
I am little behind the ball in this respect so I figured I would do my first playoff update of the year. Here are the NFC standings following Thursday's game:
Division Leaders:
1. Arizona (10-2)
2. Green Bay (9-3)
3. Tampa Bay (9-3)
4. Dallas (8-4)
Wild Cards:
5. LA Rams (8-4)
6. Washington (6-6)
7. San Francisco (6-6)
In the Hunt:
8. Minnesota (6-7)
9. Philadelphia (6-7)
10. Carolina (5-7)
11. Atlanta (5-7)
12. New Orleans (5-7)

So the Vikings are a half game out right now since they played their Week 14 game already. Here is the deal: if the Vikings keep winning out that might not be enough. But it definitely wouldn't hurt. As far as playoff teams the Vikings still have to play, the still have to make the dreaded visit to Lambeau to face the Packers and they have to host the Rams. Those are the only playoff teams remaining. To get in, I see that the Vikings most likely need to win their games against Chicago and their game against LA. The Green Bay game isn't as important. That would have them sit at 9-8. I think that will most likely get them in. Time will tell.

Up Next
Now the Vikings will have a long week after having a short week. They will go visit the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football. Kickoff is on December 20th at 7:15 PM.

​#SKOL