Sure the Vikings won, but what’s going on with Kirk Cousins?
AJ Mansour
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It wasn’t even four weeks ago that a groundswell of serious opinions were starting to form that were suggesting that Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins should be a candidate for the Most Valuable Player award. After beating the Green Bay Packers on November 21st, Kirk was looking at a roller coaster season in which he had largely played really well.
He owned an impressive 106.3 passer rating had thrown 21 TDs compared to 2 interceptions on the season and had willed his team back to victories and overtimes multiple times in two-minute drills. For a guy who had fairly or unfairly been blamed for much of the Vikings mediocrity the last few seasons, it must have been nice to not have the fingers being pointed at him.
Then the wheels fell off a bit.
He didn’t look right in the Vikings loss to the San Francisco 49ers. He looked skittish, was overthrowing receivers and threw his first interception in over a month. But it didn’t stop there, Cousins struggled the next week in another loss to the Detroit Lions this past Sunday. His numbers finished decently, but it was the same vibe as the week prior, he just didn’t seem right and wasn’t taking advantage of a defense that should have yielded more.
Then this week’s Thursday night game against the Pittsburgh Steelers where Kirk played his worst game of the season. For the first time all season he completed less than 50% of his passes (45.2%). He threw two very unfortunate interceptions that allowed the Steelers to rally in the second half. And was just off in a way that we haven’t been accustomed to seeing from the veteran QB. He finished with a paltry 63.4 passer rating, his worst outing since Week #2 of the 2020 season.
So what’s going on with Kirk?
He’s always had a bit of a problem with “happy feet” in the pocket. Not as bad as Christian Ponder used to, but it’s become an issue again and for Kirk that manifests itself with the inability to find enough comfort to cycle through his reads. He then forces the ball to a receiver that isn’t open or throws it away. Now, it’s tough to blame him when he’s peeling himself off the field so often after the pressure gets to him. He hasn’t exactly been blessed with a stellar offensive line during his time with the Vikings. It would be nice to have Christian Darrisaw out there right now, it’d be nice to have depth to not have to worry about Oli Udoh each week…that’s not a luxury that Kirk can afford right now.
But it feels like there’s something more, and I’m not sure that we’ll ever be able to pinpoint what it exactly is.
According to the injury reports, there’s no injury to speak of and he’s moving fine and throwing comfortably for the most part. It’s not a matter of the pressure. That’s always been a knock on Kirk, but a road game against a winless Lions team is about as low-pressure as you could possibly conjure up.
Whatever the problem is, Kirk has not strung together as poor a stretch of three games during his time in Minnesota as he has these last three. Two of the games resulted in losses to beatable teams and in the third, the Vikings hung on by the skin of their teeth.
I’m not trying to write another blame everything on Kirk article here, rather all I’m saying is that if there are legit aspirations for the playoffs, Kirk needs to play better than he has the last three weeks. It’s that simple. The season might rely upon it.
Aj Mansour is a member of The Power Trip Morning Show on KFAN and works for iHeartMedia and the Vikings Radio Network. He’s also a senior writer for VikingsTerritory.com. Be sure to follow him on social media for the latest Vikings news and big opinions – @AjKFAN