We’ve all heard it. “The Vikings are a Dalvin Cook fumble and a Greg Joseph 37-yard field goal away from being 3-0!”
While the knee-jerk reaction makes it easy to point the finger at Cook and Joseph, the excuse above conveniently fails to acknowledge the Minnesota Vikings’ porous defense to start the year. Even after playing a near-flawless second half against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 3’s home victory, the defense still ranks 27th in the NFL in total yards allowed.
If we’re keeping it a buck: The only reason fans and talking heads can cling to that excuse is because Kirk Cousins has been plenty busy putting this franchise on his back. Cousins’ numbers speak for themselves:
Through three weeks, Cousins ranks:
- Third in passer rating: 118.3
- Third in completion percentage: 73.9%
- Fourth in passing touchdowns: 8
- Eighth in passing yards: 918
Cousins has historically been an uber-efficient passer, stemming from his time in Washington with Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay. But the most significant difference in Cousins’ gaudy statistics — especially over the past two seasons in Minnesota — is that the Vikings are no longer trying to hide their quarterback behind their running game. In fact, under first-year offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, Cousins ranks eighth in the NFL with 39.7 pass attempts per game.
For context, Cousins averaged 32.25 and 29.6 pass attempts per game over the past two seasons, with Gary Kubiak and Kevin Stefanski as his offensive coordinators. But this Klint Kubiak offense doesn’t have any qualms about dropping Cousins back and letting him sling the pill across the yard.
Before I get ahead of myself: Cousins hasn’t exactly been the second coming of Brett Favre en route to these league-leading statistics. Of 29 eligible quarterbacks through three weeks, he ranks 27th in average depth of target (aDot) with 6 yards per Pro Football Focus. But that’s neither here nor there.
With the younger Kubiak playing to Cousins’ strengths while putting more on his plate, the Vikings’ offense ranks seventh in points and fourth in total yards.
And let’s not get it twisted; Cousins has been playing at a league-leading level for over an entire season now. Since Justin Jefferson was inserted into the starting lineup in Week 3 of last season, Cousins has the second-highest passer rating in the NFL with 111.5, trailing only Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers (for now).
And unless you recently — and regrettably — decided to dive head-first into Minnesota Vikings fandom, then you already know this franchise has spent decades searching for this exact level of sustainable quarterback play. Would it help if Cousins could be a little less distracting and prioritize We over Me by getting vaccinated? Absolutely. But at the end of the day, the Vikings need to be doing everything they possibly can to ensure he sticks around for the foreseeable future.
With Cousins under contract through the 2022 season, he is well on his way to earning himself another astronomical contract — whether it be his second extension with the Vikings or on the open market. As it stands now, 11 quarterbacks in the NFL are no longer on their rookie contract but also signed through the 2023 season, per Spotrac.
Suppose the Vikings and Cousins can’t agree on an extension. In that case, Minnesota will be left with a $45 million cap hit in the final year of Cousins’ existing contract before he hits the open market following the 2022 season.
But instead of fretting over another eye-popping contract for Cousins in Minnesota, fans should be more concerned about the franchise reverting to the level of quarterback this team put forth before Cousins walked in the door. Paying an absurd amount of money to the most important position in all of sports is simply the cost of doing business in the National Football League. When you get your hands on one, you better be ready to open up that checkbook.
Who knows if Cousins even wants to stick around in Minnesota past 2022? Would you blame him if he prefers to play out his current contract and reassess the quarterback landscape throughout the league in 16 months? I know I wouldn’t.
But it’s abundantly clear that the Vikings have seen enough to know that they’re a better football team with No. 8 at quarterback. And the Vikings would be much better off locking in Cousins well past 2022.
