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MINNEAPOLIS — Sitting at the dais after the Pittsburgh Steelers‘ emotional one-point win against the Baltimore Ravens, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger considered a question.
Could a win like that be the springboard the Steelers needed to give their offense and defense momentum into the final five games of the season?
“We’ll see,” he said Sunday. “I would like to think that it will help to say, ‘OK, listen, this is what we can do, this is what we need to do,’ but you never really know until you get going.”
Thursday night, the Steelers didn’t get going until late in the third quarter. By then, it was too late.
The team that beat their division leader came out flat and couldn’t finish digging themselves out of a 29-point hole, losing 36-28 to the Minnesota Vikings.
The momentum from their previous win died on the vine, and the team’s playoff chances, already on life support, slipped further away. With the loss, the Steelers odds of making the playoffs dipped to 10% from 19%, according to ESPN’s FPI.
Trailing 23-0 at halftime, coach Mike Tomlin assessed his team’s performance as junior varsity. The Steelers trailed by 29 in the third quarter before trimming the lead to nine, only to give up a quick three-play drive capped by a 62-yard touchdown from Kirk Cousins to K.J. Osborn.
The Steelers scored once more after Ahkello Witherspoon‘s second interception to cut the lead to eight, but they couldn’t finish a game-winning drive. After marching 84 yards down the field, a would-be touchdown pass from Roethlisberger to Pat Freiermuth was knocked out of his hands as time expired, thwarting the Steelers’ comeback hopes.
The Steelers scored 28 points in the second half, tied for the second-most under Roethlisberger, but no team in NFL history has ever won a regular-season game after trailing by more than 28 points, according to ESPN Stats and Info.
Good Chase, bad Chase: Receiver Chase Claypool is the physical embodiment of the 2021 Steelers season. The second-year receiver’s first quarter was a rough one. He was called for an unsportsmanlike penalty after retaliating against Bashaud Breeland, putting a finger in the cornerback’s helmet after he was shoved at the end of a play. Then, he nearly fumbled stretching out for extra yardage on second down, saved only because on review, he was ruled down by contact before the ball came out. Then, he missed a block that led to Najee Harris getting tackled in the backfield on third-and-short. He played sparingly in the third quarter, but he came in late and made a crucial 14-yard combat catch on third-and-9 to put the Steelers in the red zone. A few plays later, Harris found the end zone. Later, with 2:05 to go, Claypool came down with a massive 38-yard catch to keep the Steelers’ comeback hopes alive. Claypool then made a big catch on fourth down during the final would-be game-winning drive. Instead of hurrying to give the ball back to the official to spot, Claypool signaled first down as more than 10 seconds ran off the clock.
Cook run amok: The Steel curtain looked more like a cheese cloth. The group, who lost T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith during the game to a groin injury and knee injury, respectively, allowed Dalvin Cook to put together a benchmark night in his return from injury. Cook finished with 205 rushing yards, and in the last 25 seasons, the only team to rush for 250-plus yards on the Steelers are the 2020 Ravens (265), according to Next Gen Stats, but the Vikings came close with 242.
QB breakdown: Roethlisberger was sacked five times Thursday night, including four in the first half — the most in a first half since he was taken down five times by the Buccaneers in Week 4 of 2014. Roethlisberger finished 28 of 40 for 308 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.