The Minnesota Vikings have gotten off to an unfortunate start this season. After losing in Week 1 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20-17, they dropped their Week 2 matchup as well. Minnesota lost to the Philadelphia Eagles 34-38, dropping their record to 0-2.
This is certainly not the start the Vikings were looking for after they went 13-4 last season and won the NFC North. A lot of people thought their success last year was a fluke as they went undefeated in one-score games in the regular season and had a negative point differential.
This season, they are already 0-2 in such situations, as they are regressing to the mean in front of our eyes. There are a lot of things that the Vikings need to fix to get this season back on track, but the passing game led by Kirk Cousins is not one of them.
Cousins has been excellent for the Vikings as the connection between him and star wide receiver Justin Jefferson remains dominant. Jefferson has already caught 20 passes for 303 yards in two games, remaining unguardable regardless of the situation.
Overall, Cousins has been on fire. He has completed 72.7% of his passes for 708 yards and six touchdowns with only one interception. His quarterback rating currently sits at an impressive 114.2 and his QBR is 71.6.
Those are historic numbers that Cousins is producing, but this isn’t the kind of history Cousins or the Vikings want to be tied to. According to OptaSTATS on X, formerly known as Twitter, Cousins became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for at least 700 yards on 70% completions over the first two games of a season but lose both.
The Vikings are currently wasting elite performances from Cousins. If the Vikings are going to turn things around, they need to offer more support to their quarterback.
He has virtually single-handily kept this team in their first two games of the season, coming up short of getting a victory. Getting the running game going with Alexander Mattison and the defense stepping up will have to occur for things to improve.
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