Kirk Cousins is in a no win situation

[YikesVikes]

The longer this season goes, the more I think that Kirk Cousins is in a no-win situation. Every game he plays is a job interview. Any game he has a bad game, it is proof that he is a terrible QB and needs to be let go. Every game he plays well, he simply gets a "lets see how he plays next week." No other Qb is given no room to simply be a player. Cousins has to be perfect to simply justify him remaining the QB for this team. Newsbreak, QBs have bad games. This is coming from a guy that after the Bears game, I was rooting for us to trade for Case as a possible replacement. I dont think it matters if Kirk is perfect for the rest of the season and loses in the playoffs, next season, he will face the same doubters.

I say screw all that. Hail Cousins.... QB of the Vikings. Win or lose this season, he has given us hope.

[CharVike]

We all have an opinion. I've stated this many times that IMO he is the best we have had since Fran. He will have bad games. This year the Bears totally dominated us. Cook who is a great back did nothing. No one is stating he's a bum because he didn't break off 100 yards. The guy average 2.5 yards a pop which is unacceptable. That's a guy that should be replaced based just on that. Cousins was horrible also. Adam avg 3 yards a catch. I wouldn't call that great. He should be replaced. Diggs had a great game so he's the only skill guy we should keep based on this game. To me the Bears dominated the LOS.We couldn't move them. No run game and no pass game. It looked like they had 22 guys vs our 11. That's called getting blown up. Right now we are in 2nd place and could miss the playoffs. That don't cut it. Some have stated Rodgers is struggling. Even being in 1st place. You are correct he can't win. He lost to the Pack which put us in the position we are in now. He gets the loss. If Zim would have played some D we would of had a chance. Our D blew and put us in a deep hole. Our D blew against some backup bum QB vs the Bears. The guy looked like the best in the game. That's a D problem. We only have 3 loses and in 2 of those our D let a backup QB do whatever he wanted. That was a huge break for us and we didn't take advantage as a team. The blame went to Kirk. But that's part of the position he plays. If we get beat Monday it will be on Kirk. Even if it's 38-35 it will be his loss. The QB that's in a win situation is the Cowboy guy. Even people on this board said what a great game he had against us. I said he lost as a home favorite. He put up great numbers on thanksgiving. They drove 70 some yards on 3 plays and the announcers were saying what a great drive. No it wasn't. He needed to go for the long ball on play one. Score now. The problem is it would have been picked off and hurt his stats. He took the easy throw that they were giving him. Same with the Lions guy. He puts up garbage time stats. He doesn't go for the win. The quick strike. That team plays just as good with some backups. And that guy gets a ton of CAP. But you right he can't win because of the position he plays. The only thing that will save him is a Super Bowl. Right now that don't look good because we are fighting for a wild card.

[Pondering Her Percy]

The “answering everyone’s cousins questions” thread below that I started, read my original post. I said that I don’t believe cousins was ever given a fair shot from the start and stated multiple reasons why. If we lose, he walks the green mile. If we win, the haters look for reasons it “wasn’t a good win”. I’m starting to think if he wins us a SB, those haters would find reasons to say the D carried us or cook carried us, or the team we played wasn’t good at this or that just so they don’t have to admit they were wrong on cousins

[StumpHunter]

I mean, he wins it all and he is in a "win situation".

Geez.

[StumpHunter]

The “answering everyone’s cousins questions” thread below that I started, read my original post. I said that I don’t believe cousins was ever given a fair shot from the start and stated multiple reasons why. If we lose, he walks the green mile. If we win, the haters look for reasons it “wasn’t a good win”. I’m starting to think if he wins us a SB, those haters would find reasons to say the D carried us or cook carried us, or the team we played wasn’t good at this or that just so they don’t have to admit they were wrong on cousins

He will have won 1 game against a team with a winning record as a Viking if he doesn't beat the Hawks tomorrow and the Raiders do what we all expect them to do today.

He has exactly one game winning drive as a Viking.

His first season as a Viking was a failure and people justifiably were upset about it.

Stop with this martyr crap. He earned his critism and if he wins it all he will have earned our praise.

It is as simple as that.

[Pondering Her Percy]

I mean, he wins it all and he is in a "win situation".

Geez.

I feel like that’s part of the problem. Basically if he doesn’t win it, he was a stupid signing. Which I disagree with. Granted, the ultimate goal is to win a SB but if we lose in the NFC championship, is he really a bad signing? Or if we win the wild card game but lose the divisional game? I don’t necessarily consider that a failure. Especially given the fact that the defense isn’t nearly as strong as it was in 2017.

[VikeFanInEagleLand]

Yes, QB's do have bad games, but usually only one or two a season. And they usually don't have them in big games. Tomorrow is a big game.

[Pondering Her Percy]

Yes, QB's do have bad games, but usually only one or two a season. And they usually don't have them in big games. Tomorrow is a big game.

They are all big games. Dallas was a big game, Philly was a big game, division games are big games. The ones that effect us the least are games against AFC opponents. But they can still come into play. I’m not a huge believer in this being a “big game” but other games not so much. Every game counts. Period. And we’ve won 8 and lost 3, let’s keep it going

[J. Kapp 11]

The “answering everyone’s cousins questions” thread below that I started, read my original post. I said that I don’t believe cousins was ever given a fair shot from the start and stated multiple reasons why. If we lose, he walks the green mile. If we win, the haters look for reasons it “wasn’t a good win”. I’m starting to think if he wins us a SB, those haters would find reasons to say the D carried us or cook carried us, or the team we played wasn’t good at this or that just so they don’t have to admit they were wrong on cousins

He will have won 1 game against a team with a winning record as a Viking if he doesn't beat the Hawks tomorrow and the Raiders do what we all expect them to do today.

He has exactly one game winning drive as a Viking.

His first season as a Viking was a failure and people justifiably were upset about it.

Stop with this martyr crap. He earned his critism and if he wins it all he will have earned our praise.

It is as simple as that.

"If he wins it all he will have earned our praise." This is exactly the kind of bullsh!t that the OP was talking about. That's your standard for quality quarterback play? Winning it all? You do realize that we are nearly 60 years old as a franchise, and we've never won it all. By your logic, no Vikings quarterback deserves any praise, including three who are in the Hall of Fame.

No quarterback has taken the flak that Cousins has. That's not "martyrdom." It's a stone-cold fact. He was hated in Washington, and for what? Because he piled up stats but didn't win? Because he wasn't RGIII? What a joke of a franchise. Their owner didn't want him. They franchised him twice, for cripes sake. That's the ultimate disrespect. Then Cousins leaves, and they implode on themselves.

No, he didn't have a great season for us last year, but let's be real ... that team wasn't going to win even if they made the playoffs. The O-line was terrible. We had no running game. John DeFilippo ruined the offense. Yet Cousins took the lion's share of the blame, both from Vikings fans and from the media.

Just like YikesVikes, I was trying to figure out how the team might get out from under his contract after the Bears game. I was pissed. But something has clicked for Cousins. He's been playing at an all-pro level since that game. He's definitely earned my respect and should have the respect of the league and the media. And no matter whether we "win it all," the man has likely earned a big fat extension. This team, unlike his previous team, believes in him, and I'm pretty sure we'll see that faith demonstrated in long-term security.

[CharVike]

I mean, he wins it all and he is in a "win situation".

Geez.

I feel like that’s part of the problem. Basically if he doesn’t win it, he was a stupid signing. Which I disagree with. Granted, the ultimate goal is to win a SB but if we lose in the NFC championship, is he really a bad signing? Or if we win the wild card game but lose the divisional game? I don’t necessarily consider that a failure. Especially given the fact that the defense isn’t nearly as strong as it was in 2017.

The QB always gets the credit. R Wilson gets all the credit for winning the SB. Hello they had the LOB. That's what won it for them. Give Cousins a D like that and we will win it all also. That D got TOs and teams didn't score much. The Seahawks led the league in scoring defense, allowing the fewest points scored each year for four years straight. Our D isn't close to that. We are a sive compared with that. If we hold the Hawks to 10 on Monday we or Cousins wins easily. Guess what? That won't happen. In the end the QB gets all the credit for the win or the loss. Even Dilfer got a Super Bowl win. Bottom line Cousins is a good QB. Many here think Case is the guy. He can't hold a job. A dam good backup but he's not a starter.

[VikeFanInEagleLand]

Cousins has been playing very well. And we always knew he had the tools to do so. In all this talk of Cousins, my hesitation has always been how he will perform in the critical game on a big stage. Many on here think that he has already proved this year that he can do that, but for ME this is the first game that fits that category. This is the type of game that he must perform well in that will help prove it to ME. All this other crap about his performances in prime time or whatever never meant anything to me. That was all media talk. The Vikings control their own destiny to win the division. This game is huge in setting up the upcoming Green Bay game for winning the Central. If Cousins plays well tonight, and against Green Bay, and then again in his first "Win or go home" game, he will have won me over. Until then, my criticism remains.

[StumpHunter]

He will have won 1 game against a team with a winning record as a Viking if he doesn't beat the Hawks tomorrow and the Raiders do what we all expect them to do today.

He has exactly one game winning drive as a Viking.

His first season as a Viking was a failure and people justifiably were upset about it.

Stop with this martyr crap. He earned his critism and if he wins it all he will have earned our praise.

It is as simple as that.

"If he wins it all he will have earned our praise." This is exactly the kind of bullsh!t that the OP was talking about. That's your standard for quality quarterback play? Winning it all? You do realize that we are nearly 60 years old as a franchise, and we've never won it all. By your logic, no Vikings quarterback deserves any praise, including three who are in the Hall of Fame.

No quarterback has taken the flak that Cousins has. That's not "martyrdom." It's a stone-cold fact. He was hated in Washington, and for what? Because he piled up stats but didn't win? Because he wasn't RGIII? What a joke of a franchise. Their owner didn't want him. They franchised him twice, for cripes sake. That's the ultimate disrespect. Then Cousins leaves, and they implode on themselves.

No, he didn't have a great season for us last year, but let's be real ... that team wasn't going to win even if they made the playoffs. The O-line was terrible. We had no running game. John DeFilippo ruined the offense. Yet Cousins took the lion's share of the blame, both from Vikings fans and from the media.

Just like YikesVikes, I was trying to figure out how the team might get out from under his contract after the Bears game. I was pissed. But something has clicked for Cousins. He's been playing at an all-pro level since that game. He's definitely earned my respect and should have the respect of the league and the media. And no matter whether we "win it all," the man has likely earned a big fat extension. This team, unlike his previous team, believes in him, and I'm pretty sure we'll see that faith demonstrated in long-term security.

Yikes. He beats a bunch of .500 and below teams, loses to the only two teams that currently have a winning record (playing poorly in both) and that has earned him a massive contract extension? Don't you have to beat winning teams to win it all, and shouldn't that always be the goal of every team? Winning in the regular season and having nice passing stats is great and all, but at the end of the day, we aren't going to care in 5 years that the team went 10-6 or 11-5 and lost in the first round of the playoffs. The Vikings have been there, done that, and I am for one am tired of not even making a SB, let alone winning one. Now if Cousins plays well enough to win in the playoffs, and the defense or something else costs us the game, that is one thing, but if he is part of the reason we lose, he will be ripped, and justifiably so. This offense has an Oline giving their QB the most time to throw in the NFL, the #3 running game, great WRs (even with Theilen out this WR corp is better than all but maybe the Lions in our division) and a top 10 defense. No more excuses.

Also, this crap about Cousins getting the "most flak of any QB" is some of the most absurd BS I have ever read. Go on Chicago's message boards and read what they are saying about Trubiskey. Go back on this board and read what people said about Ponder and I am pretty sure you will read a lot worse things being said. The predominate take on Cousins is that he is good against bad teams, bad against good, which has been true for the majority of his career, and that is the "most flack" of any QB? Like I said, absurd.

[Fat Stupid Loser]

"If he wins it all he will have earned our praise." This is exactly the kind of bullsh!t that the OP was talking about. That's your standard for quality quarterback play? Winning it all? You do realize that we are nearly 60 years old as a franchise, and we've never won it all. By your logic, no Vikings quarterback deserves any praise, including three who are in the Hall of Fame.

No quarterback has taken the flak that Cousins has. That's not "martyrdom." It's a stone-cold fact. He was hated in Washington, and for what? Because he piled up stats but didn't win? Because he wasn't RGIII? What a joke of a franchise. Their owner didn't want him. They franchised him twice, for cripes sake. That's the ultimate disrespect. Then Cousins leaves, and they implode on themselves.

No, he didn't have a great season for us last year, but let's be real ... that team wasn't going to win even if they made the playoffs. The O-line was terrible. We had no running game. John DeFilippo ruined the offense. Yet Cousins took the lion's share of the blame, both from Vikings fans and from the media.

Just like YikesVikes, I was trying to figure out how the team might get out from under his contract after the Bears game. I was pissed. But something has clicked for Cousins. He's been playing at an all-pro level since that game. He's definitely earned my respect and should have the respect of the league and the media. And no matter whether we "win it all," the man has likely earned a big fat extension. This team, unlike his previous team, believes in him, and I'm pretty sure we'll see that faith demonstrated in long-term security.

Also, this crap about Cousins getting the "most flak of any QB" is some of the most absurd BS I have ever read. Go on Chicago's message boards and read what they are saying about Trubiskey. Go back on this board and read what people said about Ponder and I am pretty sure you will read a lot worse things being said. The predominate take on Cousins is that he is good against bad teams, bad against good, which has been true for the majority of his career, and that is the "most flack" of any QB? Like I said, absurd.

But Trubisky sucks and was a first round QB selection and Ponder? Well Ponder. Kirk doesn't suck and the only thing the hater's really have is that he isn't Brady and hasn't taken everyone to a SB every year. You have unrealistic expectations. Even the great AR has been to how many SBs? How many years ago? That's because he isn't good enough to carry everyone on his back and win the big ones? Peyton Manning couldn't win the big one for how many years?

[StumpHunter]

Also, this crap about Cousins getting the "most flak of any QB" is some of the most absurd BS I have ever read. Go on Chicago's message boards and read what they are saying about Trubiskey. Go back on this board and read what people said about Ponder and I am pretty sure you will read a lot worse things being said. The predominate take on Cousins is that he is good against bad teams, bad against good, which has been true for the majority of his career, and that is the "most flack" of any QB? Like I said, absurd.

But Trubisky sucks and was a first round QB selection and Ponder? Well Ponder. Kirk doesn't suck and the only thing the hater's really have is that he isn't Brady and hasn't taken everyone to a SB every year. You have unrealistic expectations. Even the great AR has been to how many SBs? How many years ago? That's because he isn't good enough to carry everyone on his back and win the big ones? Peyton Manning couldn't win the big one for how many years?

Gotcha. It is unfair to criticize a QB for rarely playing better when it matters and it is unrealistic to want a SB winning QB.

My bad.

[VikingLord]

I wish the focus would shift away from Cousins and onto the overall team. There are so many other guys who have to do their jobs well in addition to the QB for the team to have success. By any measure, Cousins has been doing his job very well over the last 7 games, and at this point I don't think he's a major concern.

If the Vikings lose tonight, more than likely it will be because of things like the defense didn't make key stops or committed dumb penalties that kept drives alive, or the offense made similar errors that ended drives or handed points to the Seahawks. Cousins might even make one of those mistakes, but it will be a team effort in the end, win or lose.