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- Mar 20, 2019
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As he prepares to begin his ninth NFL season, Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins turns 32 today.
He creeps one year deeper into his 30s at a time when his career is at a crossroads. Caught in the gulf between very good and very great, the question for 2020 will be whether he can use the win over the Saints in the wild-card round as the springboard for taking his game, and his team, to the proverbial next level.
One major challenge comes from, as multiple sources have observed, an excellent ability to run the play that is called but an inability to devise a second play on the fly, when the first play breaks down. Quite simply, Cousins lacks the mobility and the instincts to move laterally or vertically when the blocking collapses or when no one is open or when the running game isn’t clicking, allowing the safeties to stay back from the line and clog the throwing lanes.
So if the running game is clicking, the passing game will click as well. If the running game isn’t working, can the Vikings throw the ball effectively?
That issue was laid bare in Week Four of the 2019 season, when the Vikings couldn’t run and in turn couldn’t throw against the Bears in Chicago. Cousins heard about it after the game, publicly from receiver Adam Thielen (and the media and fans) and privately from Stefon Diggs. The criticism seemed to push Cousins to a higher level, but the limitations still linger — as will the questions.
Can Minnesota’s passing game work with Cousins at the helm on the days when the running game gets bottled up? If it can’t, the Vikings are destined to be what they were in 2019: A playoff team that makes an exit a level or two short of the Super Bowl. If they can, the Vikings become a real contender to do what they haven’t done in 44 years: Play in the final game of the season.