Ragnarok Favors The Steelers in Big Win
| Pittsburgh Steelers at Minnesota Vikings |
| Jan 1, | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | SCORE |
| Pittsburgh Steelers (7-5-1) | 6 | 14 | 7 | 10 | 37 |
| Minnesota Vikings () | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| Team Stats Comparison |
| PIT | MIN |
| Total Offense | 458 | 276 |
| Rushing Yards | 162 | 87 |
| Passing Yards | 296 | 189 |
| First Downs | 20 | 12 |
| Punt Return Yards | 25 | 0 |
| Kick Return Yards | 49 | 24 |
| Total Yards | 532 | 30 |
| Turnovers | 0 | 2 |
| 3rd Down Conversion | 6 | 3 |
| 4th Down Conversion | 0 | 0 |
| 2-Point Conversion | 0 | 0 |
| Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals | 3/2 | 0/0 |
| Penalties | 20 | 25 |
| Posession Time | 34:07 | 25:53 |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | | PASSING | C/A | YDS | TD | INT | | Ben Roethlisberger | 22/32 | 327 | 2 | 0 | | RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | | Najee Harris | 22 | 107 | 4.9 | 1 | | Benny Snell | 10 | 43 | 4.3 | 1 | | Kalen Ballage | 1 | 12 | 12.0 | 0 | | RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | | Diontae Johnson | 7 | 140 | 20.0 | 2 | | Chase Claypool | 7 | 105 | 15.0 | 0 | | Pat Freiermuth | 5 | 58 | 11.6 | 0 | | James Washington | 1 | 12 | 12.0 | 0 | | Benny Snell | 1 | 9 | 9.0 | 0 | | Najee Harris | 2 | 3 | 1.5 | 0 | | DEFENSE | TACK | SACK | INT | TD | | Devin Bush | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Cam Sutton | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | | Cam Heyward | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Minkah Fitzpatrick | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Ahkello Witherspoon | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | James Pierre | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Terrell Edmunds | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Chris Wormley | 4 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | | Alex Highsmith | 3 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | | T.J. Watt | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Montravius Adams | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Justin Layne | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Joe Schobert | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Tre Norwood | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | KICKING | FG | XP | PTS | LONG | | Chris Boswell | 3/3 | 4/4 | 13 | 54 | | PUNTING | NO | YDS | AVG | IN20 | | Pressley Harvin III | 3 | 124 | 41.3 | 1 | | KICK RETURN | RET | YDS | AVG | TD | | Ray-Ray McCloud | 2 | 49 | 24.5 | 0 | | PUNT RETURN | RET | YDS | AVG | TD | | Ray-Ray McCloud | 5 | 25 | 5.0 | 0 |
| | Minnesota Vikings | | PASSING | C/A | YDS | TD | INT | | Kirk Cousins | 23/38 | 206 | 0 | 1 | | RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | | Dalvin Cook | 19 | 78 | 4.1 | 1 | | C.J. Ham | 1 | 9 | 9.0 | 0 | | RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | | Justin Jefferson | 7 | 86 | 12.3 | 0 | | Dede Westbrook | 6 | 45 | 7.5 | 0 | | Tyler Conklin | 3 | 34 | 11.3 | 0 | | Dalvin Cook | 5 | 26 | 5.2 | 0 | | Adam Thielen | 2 | 15 | 7.5 | 0 | | DEFENSE | TACK | SACK | INT | TD | | Harrison Smith | 12 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | | Anthony Barr | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Eric Kendricks | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | D.J. Woonum | 8 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | | Mackensie Alexander | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Eddie Yarborough | 4 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | | Xavier Woods | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Patrick Peterson | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Nick Vigil | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Camryn Bynum | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Cameron Dantzler | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Harrison Hand | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Ryan Connelly | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | PUNTING | NO | YDS | AVG | IN20 | | Jordan Berry | 6 | 258 | 43.0 | 0 | | KICK RETURN | RET | YDS | AVG | TD | | Kene Nwagnwu | 1 | 24 | 24.0 | 0 | | PUNT RETURN | RET | YDS | AVG | TD | | Kene Nwangwu | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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The Steelers come away with a big win in Minnesota. Though the Steelers were over 800 miles away from their home venue, Steelers nation filled the stadium. Many Steelers commented that it felt a lot like a home game after the game concluded.
A look at the box score would make it seem like the Steelers dominated from the onset, but that wasn't the case. The Vikings got off to a fast start. Using Cook in the run game as Justin Jefferson caught 3 balls for around 40 yards to put the Vikings just inside the redzone. Cousins lined up in the gun and as he took the snap T.J. Watt came off the edge with a purpose forcing a quick throw. Cousins' pass traveled towards Jefferson for his 4th target of the day, but the ball found Cam Sutton who drove on the post route and picked it off at the goal line to end the Viking threat. The Steelers moved down the field with a balanced attack as the leaned on Harris in the run game and rookie TE Pat Freiermuth over the middle of the field as Roethlisberger found him 3 times on the first drive. Facing a 3rd and 5, Roethlisberger took the snap from the gun. Rookie LT Dan Moore blocked down to his inside gap and left Harrison Smith wide open off the edge as his sack forced a field goal from Boswell. The Vikings once again drove down the field into Pittsburgh territory. Facing a 4th and 1, Coach Zimmer opted to roll the dice. Cousins dialed up a play action, but before he could get the ball off DL Chris Wormley wrapped him up for a sack. The Steelers once again drove down the field but failed to bunch it into the endzone and had to settle for another Boswell field goal as the score stood at 6-0 to end the first.
The second quarter is where the Steelers started to pull away from the Vikings. After forcing a Viking punt, Pittsburgh drove its way inside the 20 yard line. From 16 yards out, Roethlisberger found Johnson on a shallow crossing route that he turned up field, splitting two Viking defenders as he dove across the goal line. The score stood at 13-0. The Steelers once again made a push to score at the end of the half. Using Claypool and Johnson, both had 3 catches on the drive, Pittsburgh found itself inside the Viking 5 yard line. From the gun, Roethlisberger dialed up a draw to back up RB Benny Snell who punched the ball into the endzone for his first on the season. The score stood at 20-0 with less than 15 seconds to go in the first half.
The Steelers started the second half with the ball. They didn't waste any time. On the 3rd play of the half Roethlisberger let a ball down fly down the left sideline. Johnson caught in stride as he pulled away from the Viking secondary as he completed the 65 yard catch and run to put the Steelers up 27-0. The Vikings would finally get on the scoreboard with less than two minutes to go in the third as Dalvin Cook ripped off one of the most impressive 16 yard TD run you will ever see. Breaking 3 tackles before cutting back across the grain to out run Ahkello Witherspoon to the front pile on to make the score 27-7. The Steelers would put the clamps on the Vikings to milk the 4th period clock. A defense that didn't budge as the run game iced the game. The Steelers would add a Najee Harris TD run from 11 yards out and a Boswell field goal to put the score at 37-7.
Extra Notes: The Steelers defense continues to find its groove. ILB Devin Bush racked up 12 tackles in his best game of the season as he looks to continue to work out of his 3rd season slump. Fellow ILB Joe Schobert also played one of his better games with 2 pass defensed after struggling in coverage this season. This will be key for him and team as they have a decision to make about his contract this off season. Johnson and Claypool both caught 7 balls for over 100 yards as Freiermuth continued to work the middle of the field. Benny Snell also got some carries to lighten the load off the rookie. The Steelers used a lot of tempo today showing that even if Roethlisberger isn't the guy he once was he is still in command of this offense as he made big throws all game. The Steelers also left the game healthy as they continue to look to get hot entering the final stage of the season.