Vikings Survive Once Again, As Kirk Cousins Displays Warrior Mentality

The Minnesota Vikings continue to stack wins, and they are secure in the notion that they will be a playoff team at the start of the new year.

A 10-2 record at this time of year regularly would mean the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs, but the Philadelphia Eagles have usurped that position. A look at the Eagles roster does not offer an array of superstars, but it does show a tough, powerful, cohesive team that is operating at peak efficiency.

When the experts look at the NFC playoffs, the two teams that are getting the most respect are the Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys. The San Francisco 49ers were at the tail end of the group, but the loss of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo has driven them out of the conversation – at least for now.

The history of the NFL shows a number of memorable playoff performances engineered by unknown backup quarterbacks. The Minneapolis Miracle was engineered by Case Keenum, who is not exactly a signal caller with a first-class pedigree. Instead, he was an unwanted free agent who came through with one of the greatest plays in NFL history.

By the time the playoffs start, the Vikings will likely have the No. 2 seed, but they won’t be respected. They only win one-score games. They don’t put any opponents away with power, speed or defense. The biggest difference between the team that finished 8-9 last year and the team running away with the NFC North is the happiness factor.

First-year head coach Kevin O’Connell has built a team that has a boatload of confidence as a result of nine one-score wins. O’Connell came to Minnesota talking up Kirk Cousins and telling all who would listen how much he believed in him.

Most everyone who had followed this team for years did not believe him, and it seemed like the new coach was nothing but a naïve youngster who was trying to curry favor with his new players. Cousins had shown too many times that the big stage was too big and the bright lights were too bright.

It didn’t matter that his career numbers were quite a bit better than respectable. How many times did Cousins lose to the Green Bay Packers when it mattered. How many times did the team come up empty in the biggest games. If his tenure with the Vikings didn’t provide enough proof, his earlier years in Washington reflected the same thing.

The new coach was saying great things about Cousins to his staff, players and the quarterback himself. He would soon learn the truth.

But here’s the thing: O’Connell just may have been on to something. The numbers that Cousins have put together this year have not be otherworldly and he will not be an All-Pro or MVP candidate. But he is becoming a winner.

The proof came in Sunday’s game against the New York Jets, a game in which he started off by throwing five straight incomplete passes, and later missed potential big plays by overthrowing T.J. Hockenson and Justin Jefferson.

The play that shows O’Connell is right about his quarterback came in the middle of the second quarter. The Viking were facing a 3^rd-and-9 play from their own 27 with a 10-3 lead. The Jets defense was boiling and starting to impose its will on the Vikings front, and as Cousins took the shotgun snap, he did not have any open receivers.

As he came to that conclusion, the Jets pass rush was closing in, and Cousins knew he had to run. It was one thing to avoid the sack, but it was quite another to gain enough to get the first down.

There were too many tacklers who were foaming, ready to deliver a hellacious shot. And it’s not like Cousins runs like Justin Fields, Lamar Jackson or Joe Burrow.

So, Cousins kept going and with a first down within reach, C.J. Mosley was closing in on him. Nevertheless, Cousins kept going and lowered his shoulder. He took the hit from the linebacker but gained 11 yards and a first down.

He got up quickly and went back to the huddle. He did what he had to do to keep the drive alive and played the role of the Warrior. His teammates paid it off, as Alexander Mattison culminated the 11-play, 86-yard drive with a 14-yard TD run and a 17-3 lead.

He spoke humbly of the play after the game. “I didn’t know where the line was, so I figured I had to get everything I could,” Cousins said. “I don’t know if I was past the line or not, but that was my mindset.”

The game got tight, and the Vikings could have lost, but they had a 27-22 victory. They are winning every close game to this point, and the biggest reason is the belief that a new coach had in a quarterback that didn’t seem worthy.

The Vikings may not have the overall respect of the Eagles, Cowboys, Bengals and Chiefs. But they have self-respect, and it just may be good enough.