The 6-5-1 Pittsburgh Steelers and the 5-7 Minnesota Vikings kick off the Week 14 slate of games when they face off on Thursday Night Football at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Minnesota Vikings are coming off a last second defeat at hands of the winless Detroit Lions by a score of 29-27. While the Pittsburgh Steelers snapped a three game winless streak with a narrow 20-19 victory over the division rival Baltimore Ravens.
The Vikings will spend the rest of the season known as ‘The team that lost to the Lions.’ Minnesota outgained Detroit 426-372 and dig itself out of a 14-point halftime deficit to take the lead with 1:50 to play, but the defense allowed Jared Goff to march 75 yards in under two minutes for the game-winning score. Kirk Cousins finished with 340 yards and two touchdowns while Alexander Mattison ran well (90 yards) in Dalvin Cook’s absence. Scoring on 3-of-6 red-zone trips is not going to cut it most weeks. The Vikings are now 2-6 when giving up more than 350 yards. Pittsburgh’s offense hasn’t been great for much of the year, and oddsmakers like the Vikings to bounce back, having Minnesota open as 3.5-point favorites.
As bad as the Steelers have played at times this year, they’ve made it very clear they will not be going away that easily. Pittsburgh moved to 6-5-1 on the year, taking its first lead with 1:48 to play and surviving a late two-point conversion attempt to hold off the Ravens 20-19. The Steelers only held the ball for 23:30 last Sunday, but Ben Roethlisberger made the most of that possession, throwing 236 yards with a pair of touchdown passes to Diontae Johnson. As an underdog, Pittsburgh is now 3-1 against the spread in its last four games.
Minnesota has lived and died in close games this season as 11 of their 12 games have been decided by eight points or less this season. The Vikings could be hampered offensively if Thielen and Cook can’t go as it would take their leading rusher and their second-leading receiver out of the mix. Pittsburgh showed grit and tenacity with their fourth-quarter rally against Baltimore and that’s the kind of game that can be a shot in the arm to a team that is floundering. With the Vikings struggling defensively and banged up offensively, it could prove to be a problem against a Steelers team that found something in the fourth quarter. The Steelers come up with the victory on the road here to keep themselves in the thick of the AFC playoff picture.
Prediction: Pittsburgh Steelers ML