Kirk Cousins shakes off his primetime woes in order to deliver one of his best performances of the season as the Vikings try desperately to gain ground in the NFC North with a star-studded cast
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.– The Vikings are trending upwards, and for all the right reasons. If Monday night’s upset win against the supposed offensive superpower 49ers taught us anything, it’s that the Minnesota Vikings are doing just fine with Justin Jefferson on IR. It also taught us that Kirk Cousins might be a shoe-in for NFC quarterback of the month.
Despite any doubt that Cousins could get it done in primetime, the former 2012 draft pick impressed Vikings fans with precision, arm strength, and great decisions throughout the night. It didn’t always look that way though. The night originally got started with contested interception to rookie Jordan Addison, who got the ball ripped away from him on the first drive. It looked bleak and the game looked like another blowout loss to the 49ers. Until it didn’t.
As quarterback Brock Purdy struggled throughout the game, the Vikings took advantage of offensive woes by piecing together five consecutive scoring drives to stretch out a lead against a San Francisco team that has struggled to come from behind.
“Yeah, this game is going to punch you in the gut, and you’re going to have things that don’t go your way,” he said of the first-drive turnover. “That turnover was tough, and you have to play through it. Play through the smoke, as my college coach used to say. So we were able to do that tonight, and clearly the way Jordan responded, he had a couple tough catches in traffic. The one very easily could have been an interception, and the other one the safety was driving. You could tell he made a decision that that’s not happening again, and it reflected in the way he played.”
The Vikings look like a completely different team than what’s been put on tape in the early weeks of the 2023 season. That team looked lethargic, without life, and quite frankly– struggling. Now, all the pieces of a strong Viking offense and defense seem to be coming together, even with their star receiver on injured reserve. Minnesota’s offensive line looked solid, giving up zero sacks versus a Nick Bosa led San Francisco pass rush against 45 dropbacks. In addition, when Cousins was pressured, he completed 15 of 17 balls to checkdowns and other outlets, showing progress in Cousin’s decision-making.
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“We have a great quarterback back there and we know we just have to give him a little bit of time,” offensive tackle Christian Darrisaw said. “He’s going to make the play, but when pressure does get on him, he doesn’t back off. He doesn’t fold or flinch; he’s going to make the play.”
“They knew the challenge,” Kevin O’Connell said after the game. “Listen, Nick Bosa is a phenomenal, phenomenal player, and you have to be locked in on every single snap all night long, regardless of circumstance. But they also have (Arik) Armstead and (Javon) Hargrave and they have other players that continuously come at you. If you’re not locked in in one moment, it can be catastrophically bad. Tackles have been really, really good all year for us, but to answer the bell like they did tonight, can’t say enough about CD and Brian O’Neill for what they mean to this team.”
“I thought they did a great job protecting all night,” Cousins said. “Again, a lot of pass attempts. It’s not like we threw the ball 20 times. So they handled a lot. It’s a unit that has played together for a while, played with me for a while, and at times it helps to have three or four of the guys where you feel like, hey, we’ve been here before and they kind of can finish my thoughts and sentences before I even do myself.”
The 22-17 win also showed Minnesota’s defensive prowess versus a red-hot Brock Purdy looking for a bounceback after a terrible slugfest loss against the Browns ruining their perfect season. The win forced Purdy to throw 2 interceptions, including the game-ending one and only one touchdown. Purdy also finished sub-200 yards at 272, completing 21 of 30 attempts.
The Vikes also held superstar Christian McCaffery to 45 yards, however gave up a touchdown, which McCaffery has scored in 16 straight games– an NFL record.
Cousins on the other hand outperformed anyone’s expectations, given his Monday Night struggles, going 35 for 45 with 378 yards and two touchdowns. His play was accompanied by a lone interception but didn’t seem to taint his confidence, throwing balls in tight windows to a new set of receivers given Jefferson’s absence.
Kirk Cousins threw for 378 on a defense that hadn’t given up more than 386 all-purpose yards all season. Rookie wide receiver Jordan Addison found himself in the limelight with a sublime performance barring a lost route on the first play of the game. The former-USC star seven catches and 123 yards, paired with two touchdowns on a breakout night for the first-year. If they play their cards right and let Addison develop into the quick, twitchy receiver he is, he could be a perfect complement to a wide receiver crew that let Stefon Diggs go years ago, and add him to a lineup that has KJ Osborne and Justin Jefferson when he returns.
“I walked off the field [after the loss to Kansas City in 2017] saying, ‘That’s as good as I’ve ever played.’ So I’m just not going to buy into the narratives,” Cousins said to The Star Tribune. “That’s not how I evaluate myself. The narratives can be what they are, but I know better. And then there’s also a little bit of, when I got 100 text messages after the game, from people I hadn’t heard from in potentially years, I’m like, ‘Oh, there is a little bit more of a microscope on Monday night.’
“You sort of see the overreaction the other way, too, where I’m saying, ‘Just the same way that wasn’t true in 2017, this isn’t true either.’ It’s somewhere in the middle.”
Kirk Cousin’s performance shows that the Vikings are looking to make a run for the NFC North title with plenty of time left. They’ll play Green Bay in Lambeau against a reeling Packers team that is struggling to get anything going on offense.
