Former Good Morning Football host Kay Adams recently had Jared Allen on Up & Adams, her online show. Naturally, she asked him about Kirk Cousins. “You can’t pay him. That’s just a no-brainer,” Allen responded. “You can’t pay him. Sorry, Kirk, nothing personal. Nothing personal at all. What are you gonna have to pay him, $25-$30 million a year? Can’t do it. Sorry. The ride’s done.”
It’s the bye week. The Minnesota Vikings resume play in Week 14 against the Las Vegas Raiders, and Cousins hasn’t played since Minnesota’s Week 8 win in Lambeau. Still, whether or not the Vikings should extend the 35-year-old quarterback coming off an Achilles tear will soon be a topic of conversation. Might as well get started now.
Cousins was playing the best football of his career this year. He went 35/45 for 378 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception in Minnesota’s upset win over the San Francisco 49ers. A week later, he led the Vikings to their only two-score victory this season over the rival Green Bay Packers. In the offseason, Cousins reportedly wanted a three-year extension, but Minnesota balked at that and restructured his deal, kicking more dead money into the future.
While Cousins showed everyone his value on the field, his absence highlights it. Joshua Dobbs looked like the second coming of Case Keenum after leading the Vikings to a 31-28 win in Atlanta five days after joining the team. But he came crashing back to earth in Minnesota’s 12-10 Monday night loss to the Chicago Bears, and Kevin O’Connell wouldn’t commit to him after the bye week. We’ll learn whether he goes with Dobbs, Nick Mullens, or Jaren Hall in Sin City.
At 6-6, the Vikings have too good of a record to tank. But by losing in Denver and to Chicago, they have planted themselves squarely in the NFL’s mushy middle. The NFC has the contenders: The Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, Detroit Lions, and Dallas Cowboys. Then there is everyone else: A slew of .500 teams that are “in the hunt.”
The 6-6 Atlanta Falcons lead the NFC South, while the 5-7 New Orleans Saints lurk behind them. The 6-6 Seattle Seahawks and 6-6 Los Angeles Rams are hanging around in the NFC West. And the Packers have recovered from a 3-6 start to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Green Bay was 2-5 when the Vikings left Lambeau. But they beat both Los Angeles teams and upset Detroit on Thanksgiving. They’ve salvaged the possibility of a playoff appearance for Jordan Love in his first full year as the starter. Meanwhile, the Vikings upset the Niners and took advantage of four winnable games to reach 6-4 before falling back to .500. They have two more winnable games following the bye before facing Detroit twice and Green Bay at home to finish the season.
If Cousins was still under center, anyone could have reasonably expected the Vikings to go on a winning streak after beating San Francisco and Green Bay. Atlanta and New Orleans are .500 teams in a lousy division. The Denver Broncos started 0-3, and Chicago has been an awful team for years. The Raiders have an interim coach and are starting their backup quarterback, and Joe Burrow is out for the season.
But the calculus is different with a backup quarterback. Dobbs was otherworldly in Atlanta and backed it up with a win over the Saints. However, it was always unlikely that he would go on a Keenum-like run for the rest of the season. Hall is a fifth-round rookie, and Mullens is a career backup who’s 5-12 as a starter. The Vikings remain positioned to make the playoffs with Justin Jefferson returning after the bye. But they’ve likely taken themselves out of competition for the NFC North, even with two games remaining against the Lions. Minnesota has lumped themselves into a group of .500 teams, leaving little margin for error.
The Vikings have fallen into a familiar pattern since signing Cousins following their 13-3 season in 2017. They’ve constantly re-upped with Cousins and hovered around .500 since first signing him.
In 2020, the Vikings extended Cousins for two years, $66 million. He led them to a 10-6 season in 2019 and won his first playoff game in New Orleans. But the Niners beat them 27-10 on the road, and they finished 7-9 the following season. In 2022, the Vikings extended Cousins for one year, $35 million. Cousins made his third Pro Bowl in 2021, but Minnesota finished 8-9 in 2021 and fired Mike Zimmer. Last year, the Vikings finished 13-4 and chose not to extend Cousins. His extension has expired, so Minnesota must negotiate a contract with Cousins to retain him in 2024.
The Vikings will probably re-up with Cousins, assuming he doesn’t ask for a three-year deal coming off the Achilles tear. They are still in a winning window with Jefferson, and Cousins looked like he was experiencing a breakthrough season before going down with injury. However, it will feel like history repeating itself if they do so with a .500 record. The circumstances are different this year. However, it will be hard not to think that Minnesota is in a time loop if they end the season at 9-8 or 8-9 and extend Cousins for $30 million.
They have five games to separate themselves from the pack. They still have time to break the loop.
