MINNEAPOLIS — Dalvin Cook was a game-time decision, and the decision was the right one.
The Vikings running back, his dislocated left shoulder strapped up, set a team record with 153 first-half rushing yards as his team rolled to a big early lead, then held on for a 36-28 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Cook finished with a 205 yards on 27 carries as the nationally-televised Thursday Night Football matchup drew 66,718 to U.S. Bank Stadium.
What seemed to be a safe 29-0 third quarter lead turned precarious as the Steelers rallied with four second-half touchdowns. Ben Roethlisberger's last-second pass went off tight end Pat Freiermuth's fingers in the end zone with Pittsburgh trailing by only 8.
On Sunday, the Vikings' last-second loss to the previously-winless Lions dropped them to 5-7, putting them perilously close to losing the chase in the NFC's wild-card derby.
Faced with a chance to save their postseason hopes, the Vikings responded with their most dominant half of the season, outgaining the Steelers 300-49.
Cook had pushed to play after getting two days of limited practice this week, and the Vikings cleared him to return just 11 days after he'd dislocated his left shoulder and torn his labrum against the 49ers. He played with a harness on his shoulder, just as he'd done when suffering the same injury to his right shoulder in 2019, and responded with a first half for the history books.
Cook broke the franchise record for rushing yards in a first half that Adrian Peterson set against the Seahawks in Nov. 2012.
When the Vikings needed to throw, Kirk Cousins looked for Justin Jefferson early and often, targeting him with 12 of his first 24 passes. He hit the receiver on the Vikings' first two offensive plays, then nearly hit him for a 62-yard touchdown on one of the most sublime throws of the quarterback's career: a rainbow beyond two Steelers defenders and just a fingertip beyond Jefferson in the back of the end zone.
Greg Joseph missed a field goal on the drive, but Steelers kicker Chris Boswell also missed wide left on the next possession, and after Cook surged for 30 yards, Cousins hit Jefferson for an easy touchdown: a 14-yard score off a deep crossing route that left the receiver wide open.
Cousins and Jefferson nearly connected for another TD on the Vikings' next drive, though a Chris Wormley hit on the quarterback led to a throw that was just a bit too far for Jefferson, bouncing off his hands.
Joseph kicked a field goal, and after a Steelers three-and-out, the Vikings went up 16-0 on a touchdown drive built off four plays that went for more than 10 yards: a 22-yard Cousins-to-Jefferson connection on another deep crosser, a 15-yard Cook run, a 19 yard throw from Cousins to Tyler Conklin and a 29-yard scoring run from Cook.
While the Vikings' offense shredded the Steelers, their defense went after Roethlisberger with a menu of Mike Zimmer's old special: the double-A gap blitz he'd used many times in 14 previous matchups with the Pittsburgh quarterback. The Vikings sacked Roethlisberger five times in the game's first three quarters, with Bashaud Breeland intercepting a third-quarter pass he threw behind Diontae Johnson.
But the 39-year-old Roethlisberger rebounded in the second half, leading the Steelers on four touchdown drives. He threw scoring passes to Najee Harris, James Washington and Freiermuth, and Harris scored on a 1-yard run to make things interesting.
Cousins, who threw two second-half interceptions, hit K.J. Osborn with a 62-yard scoring pass in the fourth quarter as the Vikings tried to stave off the Steelers comeback.
Pittsburgh had a final chance, trailing by eight after getting the ball at their own 4 with 2:16 remaining and no timeouts. It converted a fourth-and-2 in Vikings territory after a long pass interference penalty on Breeland. The Steelers got to the Vikings' 12 with two seconds left but a final pass slipped out of Freiermuth's hands as Harrison Smith defended.
