The Wide World of Dirt

The 12-3 Minnesota Vikings strolled into Lambeau Field on New Year’s Day to face Aaron Rodgers and the Packers.

The two teams faced off in week 1 at US Bank Stadium where the Packers received a Scandinavian shellacking at the hands of the Vikings, falling 23-7.

Minnesota QB Kirk Cousins put up an efficient effort with star wideout Justin Jefferson accounting for 184 of Cousins’ 277 yards and both passing TDs.

Coming into their first game of the 2023 calendar year, the Vikes rode into Green Bay on a five-game winning streak, highlighted by an NFL-record 33-point comeback in an overtime victory over the Colts in week 15.

The Packers were similarly stout over the past month, winning three games in a row after a 4-8 start, but despite their inability to find their footing last time in Minneapolis, the oddsmakers shined their favor on the Pack.

Packers CB Jaire Alexander praised Jefferson coming into the weekend, calling him a top-3 receiver in football before declaring that this time would be different.

And different it was.

Only targeted five times in the 60-minute affair, Jefferson caught a single ball for 15 yards and nothing more. It was almost like Cousins refused to look his way.

Minnesota came into the game missing starting center Garrett Bradbury, and his backup got injured early in the game.

Still, that doesn’t excuse Kirk Cousins’ performance.

I’ve been waiting a long time to do this, so let’s just dive right on in, shall we?

This MAN!

A fourth-round pick out of Michigan State where he had a mediocre career, Cousins found his first NFL home in the league’s worst organization, Washington.

Backing up RG3, Cousins was thrust into the starting gig due to mounting injuries to his counterpart and eventually claimed it outright by leading the [redacted] to the Wild Card round after the 2015 season where they lost to none other than Green Bay.

After a few years on the franchise tag, Kirk took his high-flying stats and efficiency up north to the Twin Cities for 2018, signing the first fully-guaranteed NFL contract.

Their initial agreement kept Cousins in Minneapolis until 2020, and after an underwhelming first season, 2019 became a prove-it year for the 31-year-old.

To his credit, he put together one of the best seasons of his career and led the Vikings to a Wild Card berth where they defeated the Saints on a last-minute TD.

Bounced the next week by the 49ers, Cousins spent more time in 2020 in the headlines for his confusing takes on Covid policy than he was for his play on the field.

Signed to a two-year extension before the season started and given a first-round receiver, Cousins couldn’t elevate the roster like a franchise QB is supposed to do, and the Vikings sunk back down to mediocrity.

In spite of another Pro Bowl-caliber on the stat sheet in 2021, Cousins again failed to push the team past a .500 record, and his ridiculous Covid takes resurfaced with Cousins defiantly refusing to get vaccinated against the virus.

This culminated in Cousins missing a pivotal game against the Packers where the Vikings lost, pushing Minnesota out of the playoff picture for the second straight year.

Cousins and the Vikings signed another extension, keeping Cousins through his age-35 season, and perhaps they should think about dealing him.

Sure, he got another Pro Bowl nod, but that’s voted on by the fans. Despite never, ever winning anything important, the Vikings have an extremely loyal and passionate fanbase, one for which I have immense respect.

But, the Vikings barely skated by in most of their wins this season, coming into their Green Bay tangle with a negative point differential on the year while having the second-best record in the NFC.

One key part of that is Kirk Cousins.

Thanks to his 3-INT outing against the Packers, Cousins is now tied with (a future subject of my ire) Raiders QB Derek Carr for the league-lead in interceptions.

While his receiving options have gotten even better since last season, Cousins has failed to capitalize, throwing more passes than ever while completing less of them.

He hasn’t thrown this bad since his final season in Washington when he had Jameson Crowder and the fossilized remains of Vernon Davis as his best receivers.

In fact, he’s seen at least a one-point percentage drop in his completion rate since his first year in Minnesota when he was connecting on 70.1% of his throws.

How do you rationalize keeping a withering commodity for another year?

I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be doing that.

We’re talking about a guy that has one playoff win to his name in his 11-year career and came into 2022 with an absolutely even .500 record of 59-59-2.

Yeah, he even has two ties.

I know Cousins is only 35 next season, but I don’t even see him maintaining what he’s doing now next year based on the trends.

Kirk Cousins is clearly on the backslide, more so than ever! Nobody seems to be paying attention because he’s the QB of a team that’s 12-4 and has a receiver that’s threatening to take down Calvin Johnson’s vaunted receiving yards record.

I don’t even have to bring up his lack of winning in primetime, big-game showdowns because I’d assume you already know he can’t step up when it matters most.

If you’re the Minnesota front office moving forward, I’d be getting on the horn with someone about getting another QB in town.

Whether that be a QB to develop under Cousins for his last contract year or outright find a veteran to compete with him in camp next year, change needs to happen now and fast because you’ll never be a contender with Kirk Cousins under center.

Addendum: I wrote this article following the Vikings-Packers game on New Year’s Day, but in lieu of Damar Hamlin’s life-threatening injury on MNF, I decided to let the moment breathe to be respectful to and not distract from Hamlin and his family.

Now that we know Damar Hamlin is stable and recovering, I feel that it’s more appropriate to publish this piece, but let’s look at Kirk’s playoff performance against the Giants first, shall we?

It was a rehash of many Kirk Cousins performances previous this past Sunday when they faced off against the New York (football) Giants.

Fielding the 17th ranked rushing and passing defense, Minnesota’s passing and rushing attack should’ve had a banner day in US Bank Stadium, and it looked that way for Cousins on the stat sheet.

Cousins completed 31 of his 39 throws for 273 yards and 2 passing touchdowns, and he added to his resume a catch from Justin Jefferson for a loss of two yards.

Converting almost 80% of your passes for completions is typically incredible and a surefire way to lead your team to the promised land…unless you’re Kirk Cousins.

With one of the best receivers in the game in Jefferson lining up outside, Cousins only managed 7 yards per attempt on Sunday while only targeting Jefferson only 9 times.

Luckily for them, seven of those passes were hauled in, but for Jefferson to only gain 47 yards at the end of 60 minutes, that’s just not good enough from both of them.

And it wasn’t.

After some lucky breaks to move the ball on their final drive, Cousins took the final snap on 4th & 8 near midfield, and instead of trusting Jefferson, KJ Osborn, or Adam Thielen to catch a pass beyond the sticks, Cousins caved under pressure and checked it down to TJ Hockenson for a 3-yard gain, turning the ball over on downs and ending Minnesota’s season.

I’ve felt this way since Cousins was in Washington: he’s a numbers quarterback.

He’s going to show efficiency and precision on the stat sheet, but he just bookended year 11 with another playoff loss.

The Vikings organization will try to enhance their defense in the offseason and more power to them because it was truly awful.

What they should also be doing is taking a long, hard look into the mirror to ask themselves if Kirk Cousins can lead their team to that ever-elusive Super Bowl they’ve been chasing since their formation in 1960.

Will they do this? Probably not. The Vikings haven’t been able to settle on a QB long-term since Fran Tarkenton, and almost all of their success since his departure has been fleeting at-best.

They drafted Daunte Culpepper and disposed of him after he shredded his knee. They brought in Brett Favre who nearly led them to glory before throwing them out of the 2010 NFC Championship game in overtime.

They tried things with Christian Ponder and Teddy Bridgewater, and those guys didn’t pan out there either. Despite leading Minnesota to the NFC Championship game in 2017, they kicked starting QB Case Keenum to the curb in favor of Cousins.

One playoff win and several losing seasons later, the Vikings have Cousins signed through the end of next year, and I don’t think Kellen Mond is the answer in the Twin Cities.

Minnesota desperately needs to evaluate and plan for their future at QB, and if that means shipping Cousins out of town to acquire that player, then they should do it.