MINNEAPOLIS -- Cam Heyward's growing frustration with what the 2021 season is turning into for the Steelers is obvious.
So is Mike Tomlin's.
That's because every time the Steelers think they have what has become their biggest Achilles' heel fixed, along comes another star running back to exploit it in an even bigger way.
Two weeks after allowing Joe Mixon to run for a career-high 165 yards and two touchdowns, Dalvin Cook rushed himself back from a separated shoulder suffered just 11 days ago to get a crack at the Steelers.
Cook made short work of the Steelers, running through holes a snow plow could have driven through -- twice -- en route to rushing for 205 yards on 27 carries and scoring a pair of touchdowns as the Vikings built a 23-0 first-half lead and then held off the Steelers, 36-28, here Thursday night at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Cook ripped off a 20-yard run on his first attempt, then had a 30-yard scamper on his third carry, finishing the first quarter with five carries for 73 yards.
He added nine carries for 80 yards and two touchdowns in the second quarter, finishing the first half with 14 carries for 153 yards -- the most in the NFL in a first half since Mixon had 20 carries for 117 yards against the Steelers just two weeks ago in a 41-10 win by the Bengals.
The Steelers allowed 300 yards in a half for the second time in three weeks -- after doing so just one time previously in 20 years.
"It's 'Groundhog Day,'" said Heyward, referencing the Bill Murray movie. "It's unacceptable. We have a long weekend to think about it."
That they do. The run-stopping issues aren't something new. Since holding Cleveland to 96 rushing yards in a Week 8 15-10 win, the Steelers have given up 974 rushing yards over their past six games including a season-high 242 to the Vikings (6-7). That's an average of 162.3 per game.
"Just to be blunt, we're getting handled on both sides of the ball up front," said Tomlin. "And that makes it difficult. ... We were JV again, and I'm talking about up front on both sides of the ball. We lost the battle on the line of scrimmage."
It led to plays like this 29-yard touchdown run by Cook in the second quarter:
If that one wasn't easy enough, later in the second quarter, he scored again nearly untouched from 7 yards out. Safety Minkah Fitzpatrick gets to Cook at the goal line, but he's the first player to lay a finger on him, just as he nearly got to him at the end of the first TD run.
By then, it's way too late.
The Steelers did a better job in the second half, allowing Cook 52 yards on 13 carries, but the damage was done.
That was especially true considering the Steelers offensive line was, as Tomlin said, putting forth a JV effort, as well.
Ben Roethlisberger was sacked four times in the first half and the Steelers managed just 66 offensive yards, missing their only opportunity at scoring when Chris Boswell missed a 49-yard field goal on their opening possession.
"You name it, we did it wrong," Heyward said.
At 6-6-1, the Steelers are still technically alive in the AFC playoff race pending the results of Sunday's games, but with four games remaining, they're running out of time.
"We've got to be better than we were," said Tomlin. "We'll turn over every stone to do that. We've got a long week coming up between this one and our next one. We'll make good use of our time to assess not only what we're doing, but who we're doing it with."
That sounds ominous for some, and it should. As the Steelers showed in the second half, they have some ability to play better than they did. But for whatever reason, they go through spurts where they can't stop anyone and can't block anyone.
"We're getting beat on the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Really, I'm not going to make it any more complex than what it is," Tomlin said. "Football is a complex yet simple game. You've got to whip blocks. You've got to make tackles. And you've got to sustain blocks.
"We're not doing those things."
• The slow start, compounded by the Steelers giving the Vikings short fields twice to open the second half after the fifth sack of Roethlisberger and then an interception that led to a pair of field goals, put the Steelers in a 29-0 hole.
The second Minnesota field goal of the third quarter came with 6:18 left in the third quarter, and then finally -- finally -- the Steelers went to their no-huddle.
That led to a Roethlisberger touchdown pass to Najee Harris with 2:15 remaining in the third quarter, and then Ahkello Witherspoon -- starting in place of Joe Haden -- intercepted a pass that was tipped by linebacker Devin Bush to give the Steelers the ball at the Minnesota 42.
That set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Harris, who finished with 94 yards on 20 carries after gaining just 17 yards on seven first-half rushing attempts.
The Steelers then forced a three-and-out, and Roethlisberger connected on passes of 37 yards to Diontae Johnson and then hit James Washington -- playing in favor of Chase Claypool -- for a 30-yard touchdown that pulled the Steelers to with 29-20 with 12:17 remaining after a failed two-point conversion.
Suddenly, it looked like the Steelers might have a chance to mount yet another comeback.
But after a pair of Cook runs to soften up the defense, Kirk Cousins, who was 1 of 7 passing for 1 yard to that point in the second half, connected with K.J. Osborn on a 62-yard touchdown pass against Cam Sutton that pushed the Vikings ahead 36-20 with 11 minutes left in the game.
"They went to two-deep safeties," said Harris when asked what the difference was from earlier in the game. "Earlier, they had the safeties down in the box."
It nearly backfired on the Vikings.
"In the second half, they changed up a few things," Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer said of the Steelers' blocking scheme. "They were changing protection pretty good."
After the Steelers were forced to punt, Cousins was again intercepted by Witherspoon at the Pittsburgh 38. Witherspoon returned the interception 41 yards to the Minnesota 21. Two plays later, Roethlisberger tossed a 15-yard touchdown pass to Pat Freiermuth and then connected with Johnson for a two-point conversion that made it 36-28.
The Vikings got the ball back with 4:14 remaining and got backed up on a holding penalty. But Cousins found Justin Jefferson -- who finished with seven catches for 79 yards and a touchdown -- for a 12-yard gain, then got Cook matched up on inside linebacker Marcus Allen, allowing Cook to make one more big play.
That 17-yard gain forced the Steelers to use their remaining three timeouts. Adding insult to injury, former Steelers punter Jordan Berry pinned his former team at its own 4 with 2:16 remaining and no timeouts.
Even then, it looked like the Steelers would have a chance to pull closer. Roethlisberger went 9 of 10, also spiking the ball once, to put the Steelers in position to score with three seconds remaining at the 12.
But his last-second pass to Freiermuth was broken up by All-Pro safety Harrison Smith, ending the game.
"I trusted that he was going to get down the middle," Roethlisberger said of Freiermuth. "I know their safeties were kind of wide and watching it. Three guys collapsed on him pretty quick. He's taking it pretty hard. I pulled him to my locker and talked to him a little bit. I've got a lot of faith and trust in that guy. He's got a lot of heart. He is not one that is lacking in heart and desire. He'll eat this for a while, and he shouldn't, because it's not on him."
• Once again, the offense only got rolling once it went to the no-huddle. And while Harris is partially correct that the Vikings changed up the way they were defending the Steelers, part of the reason for that was because of how the Steelers were attacking them.
The no-huddle put the Vikings on their heels a bit.
So, why not do it earlier?
"Usually when we have to," said Roethlisberger when asked how the Steelers decide when to use that package. "It feels like that, at least. Coach (Matt) Canada says, 'We've got to do this and we've got to do that.' He's in my ear communicating a lot. So, sometimes score dictates it. Sometimes, our play dictates it."
To Roethlisberger's point, he's not just out there drawing up plays when the Steelers run the no-huddle. Canada still communicates with him to give him play calls. And, the Steelers were still able to run the ball out of that package. Harris had nine carries for 33 yards out of the no-huddle.
Roethlisberger, meanwhile, was 20 of 26 for 240 yards and three touchdowns after the Steelers went to the no-huddle. That's a 143.1 passer rating. Overall, he 28 of 40 for 308 yards, so he was 8 of 14 for 68 yards and an interception when the Steelers didn't use the no-huddle.
One of the changes Tomlin should make is to use that right out of the gate the rest of the way. You have to do whatever you can to win games.
• Tomlin is looking for anything to help make this run defense better. He used Allen, a former safety, in the dime to help in coverage. That didn't work.
Buddy Johnson was inserted in the second half at times for Joe Schobert.
"We're not whooping enough tail," Tomlin said of his linebackers. "We're not striking enough. We're not making the pile fall in the right direction. I'd be remiss if I didn't look at all of my options. Buddy Johnson is an option that worked, so we played him some."
Tomlin is trying to light fires.
"We will not be bashful about turning stones over," Tomlin said.
But when someone asked if that included making changes in coaching responsibilities, Tomlin was blunt in his reply.
"What do you mean? A coach hasn't made a play, sustained a block, made a tackle. I know I haven't in a long time."
To Tomlin's point, this is not a coaching issue in my opinion. This is a player issue. They're not getting the job done on the field. This team has shown the capability to do things and do them well at times. But there's no consistency.
That's the sign of young players making young-player mistakes, or veteran players making lack-of-talent mistakes.
Either way, it adds up to 6-6-1.
• What to say about Claypool?
He got himself benched for an unnecessary roughness penalty in the first quarter for his ninth penalty of the season, which leads all NFL receivers.
But he also made some big catches down the stretch.
Unfortunately, he also chose to pose over a fourth-down catch on the Steelers' final possession that cost the team between 5 and 10 seconds.
Washington, after being extremely quiet over the past six weeks, took advantage of Claypool's missteps to catch four passes for 64 yards and a touchdown. But Claypool finished with eight catches for 93 yards on nine targets.
That said, perhaps it's time to sit Claypool down for more than a series or have him rotate possessions with Washington.
There are only so many options for that in-game. After all, you're limited to who you have active.
Claypool is tremendously talented. But talent will only take you so far. And it doesn't excuse the constant mistakes.
• Berry averaged 48.7 yards per punt with a net average of 46 yards.
Pressley Harvin continued his up-and-down season, averaging 43 yards per punt with a net of 37.8 yards.
This is why teams shouldn't use a draft pick on a punter. It puts too much pressure on them to keep the drafted player.
Berry has been better than Harvin by leaps and bounds this season. And this was after he had his best season in 2020.
• The Steelers might have themselves something in Witherspoon.
At 32, Haden isn't in the Steelers' future plans. Witherspoon should be.
In fact, if Haden does return for the Steelers' next game against the Titans, Sutton should be the nickel corner with Witherspoon and Haden on the outside.
• What other changes could Tomlin make? It might be time to make the move and insert Zach Banner at right tackle. I'd then slide Chuks Okorafor over to left tackle and start Joe Haeg at left guard when he's activated off the Reserve/COVID-19 List next week -- assuming Kevin Dotson still isn't ready to return.
Given what the Vikings threw at the line in this game and how they dealt with it, the Steelers can expect all of their remaining opponents to show six or seven defenders at the line of scrimmage and make the line guess which guys are coming.
Typically, the Vikings were only bringing four pass rushers. But the Steelers kept blowing their assignments on who was coming and who was not.
Unfortunately, they don't have a center waiting in the wings to step in for Kendrick Green, who struggled in this game. With J.C. Hassenauer on IR and B.J. Finney dealing with a back injury, the only other center is John Leglue. And he's not really a center. He's a center for emergencies only.
Then again, with the season on the line the rest of the way, the Steelers have reached emergency status.
• Can this thing be fixed? Probably not this season. The defensive line is what it is. The Steelers have the ability to shut down one-dimensional teams, but not balanced ones such as the Vikings or Bengals that can run and throw effectively.
Heck, the Vikings weren't even that effective throwing the ball. After completing five of his first seven passes, Cousins was 9 for 24 with two interceptions.
The Vikings had no real passing game -- though Cousins made a couple of late throws. And yet it took the Steelers until the second half to really make the adjustments necessary on defense to slow the Vikings offense.
Why couldn't they make those adjustments earlier? The offense couldn't stay on the field long enough to allow the defense time to do so. After an 11-play drive that ended with a missed Boswell field goal, the Steelers' next five first-half possessions consisted of the offense running 16 plays.
Still, opponents that run the ball well with good running backs cause this team all kinds of trouble.
Fortunately for the Steelers, the only team remaining on their schedule that can do that are the Browns, the last team they've held under 100 rushing yards.
• While rookie linemen Green and Moore have had their struggles, Harris and Freiermuth continue to impress.
Their maturity level handling the workload thrown at them has been impressive. They're building blocks for the future, as is Johnson.
The rest of the offense? Well, that's debatable.
It is, however, interesting that they're now 1-3 since Dotson has been out with his ankle injury.
