Kirk Cousins had the merriest Christmas out of everyone who filed into U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Earlier in the week, he walked into a local high school and drew a reaction like he was Santa Claus tossing out PS5s. Later, he was in the tunnel holding a giant boombox before the Minnesota Vikings took on the Detroit Lions. He watched from the sideline as Nick Mullens gave away footballs like his name was “St. Nick.” Then he got a glowing endorsement from Justin Jefferson after the game.
“I really think it goes to show the rest of the world the type of player Kirk is,” Jefferson said. “At the end of the day, this is a tough league. …It’s tough not having [Cousins] out there, the captain that he is, the leader that he is. He’s a great player.”
After hearing that from the face of the franchise, many people concluded that Cousins is the missing piece for the Vikings to be contenders in 2024 and beyond. But it’s also a short-sighted opinion. The quarterback position alone isn’t holding Minnesota back from being bona fide contenders.
Minnesota’s expectations were modest entering the 2023 season. They had just come off a 13-4 season and a division title. But when the smoke cleared, they were in the same position they had been in since going to the NFC Championship Game in 2017. In the offseason, the Vikings said goodbye to cornerstones like Adam Thielen, Eric Kendricks, and Dalvin Cook. A few more veterans like Patrick Peterson, Dalvin Tomlinson, and Za’Darius Smith followed them out the door.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s desire to have flexibility for the 2024 season was the biggest reason for these moves. With the Vikings in a solid position in the NFC pecking order, Adofo-Mensah believed they could contend by retooling his roster compared to a full-scale teardown necessary to compete in the quarterback-driven AFC.
The result was a bunch of cosmetic moves that helped Minnesota stay relevant this season. They signed Byron Murphy and Marcus Davenport in free agency and brought Alexander Mattison back for an ill-fated tour at RB1. None of these moves screamed, “WHO GONNA STOP EM???” It continued with a solid if not spectacular draft headlined by Jordan Addison.
That created the mindset going into the 2023 season. If the Vikings fell flat, they could lean into an opportunity to take advantage of a strong draft class. If they were competitive, Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell would curry favor from ownership for putting a winning product on the field.
Minnesota didn’t go into tanking mode when they got off to a 1-4 start. Instead, they continued to compete, which is what you want to see from your team. After an ugly win over the Chicago Bears, the Vikings upset the favored San Francisco 49ers at home and the Green Bay Packers on the road. Suddenly, fans started to believe again.
It was hard for people not to believe in the Vikings when they held a 24-3 lead over the Packers at Lambeau Field. Brian Flores’ defense was turning a corner. Cousins was playing at his “Kirktober” best. The offensive line was playing its best football in a decade, and Minnesota was on its way to a rare victory by more than one score.
That was the peak of Minnesota’s season until Cousins dropped back and tore his Achilles tendon. By the time he hobbled to the sideline, everyone had to know that the Vikings season was over. But it didn’t feel like it due to their performance over the next two games.
Josh Dobbs provided an adrenaline rush that led the Vikings to a pair of wins and a hard-fought loss to the Denver Broncos. But Minnesota was still on track for a playoff spot at 6-5, and a Monday Night Football matchup with the Bears seemed like the perfect spot to gear up for a second-half surge.
Unfortunately, Dobbs’ rocket ship to stardom wound up being more of a space Winnebago, and the Vikings lost 12-10. An ugly 3-0 win over the Las Vegas Raiders followed, and back-to-back losses had Vikings fans saying the same thing:
If we only had Kirk Cousins…
Perhaps the Vikings would still be in the playoff hunt if Cousins never got hurt, but the chances of a miraculous Super Bowl run wouldn’t have been high. Even with Cousins as their quarterback over the first seven games and Jefferson at wide receiver for five of them, the Vikings had moments that showed they weren’t a contender.
There was the loss at home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to open the season. There was an ugly loss in Philadelphia that only looked better because of a furious rally to make it a one-score game. And there was the headset SNAFU at the end of the loss to the Los Angeles Chargers and a defense that allowed one too many plays to Patrick Mahomes.
The Vikings were always a flawed team that will look much different heading into the 2024 season. Key defensive players like Danielle Hunter and Jordan Hicks could leave in free agency. Even mid-season pickup Dalton Risner could look for a big deal after not getting one during last spring’s free-agent tour.
Minnesota will probably lose K.J. Osborn as their third receiver. They could also be without T.J. Hockenson to start the season as he recovers from a potentially serious knee injury.
Mix in Brian Flores’ expected departure, and 2024 could be just as much of a transition year as 2023 was. But nobody wants to remember that.
They want to remember the back-to-back performances that Cousins strung together in a month that Vikings fans gave its own name. They remember Cousins slinging it around the yard, taking down an NFC favorite at home, and shredding a defense that has Packers fans losing their minds in the season’s closing weeks.
It creates the illusion that Cousins would have walked out of the tunnel looking like Cyclops from the X-Men, using his laser vision to blast Detroit’s defense and lead the Vikings to the Super Bowl. But in reality, Cousins was just as likely to make one of the same mistakes that led the Vikings to that 1-4 hole.
These are all things the Vikings need to consider when factoring in that Mullens and Dobbs aren’t starting-caliber quarterbacks. That performance could cloud their judgment and even lead the front office to place a blank check in Cousins’ stocking so he can maximize his value – even entering his age-36 season coming off a torn Achilles.
Suppose Cousins isn’t willing to budge from the iron-clad, fully guaranteed contracts he’s previously signed. Then, signing him because of the same What if? aura the previous regime believed in could be detrimental for a general manager whom the Vikings hired to give this team a facelift.
Does that mean the 2023 Vikings have been better if Cousins never got hurt? Absolutely. But that shouldn’t be why they decided to bring Cousins back in 2024.
