Kirk Cousins Passer Rating Sinks For Vikings, QB Numbers Down In 2022

The Minnesota Vikings begin the second portion of their schedule with a 5-1 record and they find themselves sitting in first place in the NFC North. All is well in Viking land with rookie head coach Kevin O’Connell coming up with a far more creative offense than the team ever had under former boss Mike Zimmer.

That’s how it looks on the surface, and then when you throw in one of the best receivers in the NFL in Justin Jefferson and a superior red zone weapon in Adam Thielen, it should cement the optimism. Add in a running back with a wonderful track record in Dalvin Cook, and the Vikings have offensive options.

But what about quarterback Kirk Cousins, who came into the season with a reputation for putting impressive statistics together even though he comes up short in the large majority of every big game he has played. Since the Vikings have won all but one of their six games, doesn’t that mean Cousins has improved his performance?

It’s just the opposite. While the Vikings are winning games, Cousins finds himself way down on the list of quarterbacks, at least when it comes to passer rating. This is a number that has been universally minimized for decades, but its longevity as an effective tool speaks louder than its critics.

Passer rating takes in pass attempts, completions, passing yards, touchdown passes and interceptions, and as Cousins prepares to face the Arizona Cardinals at home in Week 8, his passer rating sits at 88.7, good for 17^th in the league. He is one step below retread Andy Dalton of the New Orleans Saints and one step above Marcus Mariota of the Atlanta Falcons.

This is not exactly prime territory for the quarterback of a team that has aspirations to play deep into the postseason and possibly represent the NFC in the Super Bowl.

Cousins has always been an accurate quarterback and his 66.2 completion percentage is similar to the 67.6 and 66.3 figures he put on the board in 2020 and 2021, respectively. However, his passing yards are down at 250.3 per game and his TD-interception ratio is a rather ordinary 9-5.

The TD-interception ratio is where Cousins has slipped dramatically. He had a 35-13 ratio in 2020 and 33-7 last year. He is also throwing for fewer yards than he has in the past – 13.5 yards fewer than last year and a shocking 57.0 yards fewer per game than his career-best in 2016.

O’Connell believes that Cousins has not thrown the ball downfield as much because some of his targets have made big plays after catching short passes, and that has impacted the quarterback’s decision making.

“I will say, we’ve had some shorter targets that have gone for explosive gains with catch-and-runs and guys getting underneath coverages,” O’Connell said. “If (opponents) do want to play things deep to short, (Cousins) will keep making great decisions and being really accurate with the ball underneath.”

The ranking and numbers lead to the question of whether the Vikings can continue to win even though their quarterback is not producing the way he has in the past. With games coming up against the Cardinals, Commanders, Bills, Cowboys and Patriots coming up in the next five weeks, the initial reaction is that Cousins’ performance will not be good enough to win more than one of those games.

But a further study of the situation reveals that quarterback play throughout the NFL has taken a precipitous fall. The season has not reached the halfway point, but just four quarterbacks have ratings above 100.0 (heading into Week 7), and they include Tua Tagovailoa, Josh Allen, Geno Smith and Patrick Mahomes.

Nine quarterbacks had ratings above 100.0 last year in a full 17-game season, including Aaron Rodgers of the Packers leading the way at 111.9 and Cousins at No. 4 with a 103.1 rating. The league saw 10 quarterbacks with ratings of 100.0 or better in 2020, with Rodgers once again holding the top spot and Cousins sitting at No. 8.

Cousins’ performance has not been as statistically efficient this season as it has been in the past, and he has fallen far down the rankings. But perhaps even more significant is the overall drop in quarterback performance throughout the league.

This is not something that is likely to improve as the season goes along. Figures should be higher early in the season before defenses have a true read on the particular gameplans featured by each team. Defenses have a chance to improve their overall performance when they have a better feel for how a quarterback and his teammates tend to attack.

As a result, this might be the time for the Vikings to change their tendencies and look for more explosive plays. Not only to improve Cousins’ overall performance, but to help the keep winning as the schedule grows more challenging.