Fourteen months ago, the Minnesota Vikings made the power move of the off-season — swapping Case Keenum for Kirk Cousins on a record-breaking, fully guaranteed three-year $84 million deal. After adding on the signal-caller, expectations for the Vikings were a record high — they were, in the eyes of many, a legitimate Super Bowl contender. However, in 2018, they weren't that, as they fell to 8-7-1 and missed the post-season entirely a year after appearing in the NFC Championship.
Now, a lot of that regression shouldn't fall on Cousins alone. The defense faltered, the offensive line was poor, and their promising offensive coordinator John DeFilippo didn't perform up to par. Now, in 2019, a lot of those weaknesses appear to be fixed. The defense is healthy, the offensive line upgraded with Garrett Bradbury on board, and Kevin Stefanski seems to be a proper play-caller.
But, Cousins can't avoid blame. Although his stats look good — he recorded 4,000+ yards and 25+ touchdowns for the fourth year in a row — his tape wasn't too impressive. Far too often, Cousins' Vikings fell at his hands as his average arm, and his folding under pressure was all too apparent in Minnesota.
However, Cousins is far from a bad quarterback; the point of this article isn't to bash him. He makes quick reads, is accurate, has a career 66.5% completion rate, and can push the ball down the field when he needs to. Instead of criticizing him, this article was written to temper expectations concerning him.
With that known, there are essentially two trains of thought about Cousins' expectations
- He's a good quarterback, but he's not a great one. To reach the Super Bowl, he needs a good team around him.
- He's an elite quarterback that will lead the team to the Super Bowl. It doesn't matter which team he's on; he will simply win.
If you fall under the first train of thought, you're all good, stop reading. Cousins proved that he's a solid quarterback in 2019, and if you believed that before, your expectations were either met or almost met. But if you fall under the second, you may want to re-think how you see him, because he's not that. If so, this is for you.
If you believe that Cousins is an elite quarterback, or a top-ten one, your expectations weren't met in 2019. And for a good reason, he's simply not that. At his best, he's a borderline star that can win with a good team around him. This showed during his time in Washington, as he reached the playoffs in 2016 with a solid team around him. But, without that team, he failed to.
Nonetheless, despite having a track record of success directly correlating with the play of the team, many still had sky-high expectations for the QB. Those expectations included seeing elite quarterback play in Minnesota and a long post-season. He's not going to live up to those. Yes, he can show flashes of greatness from time-to-time, but expecting to see Cousins as an MVP or Hall of Famer is simply absurd.
To be clear, the Vikings are a serious playoff team; don't temper your expectations concerning the organization. With a still good defense on board, an upgraded offensive line, and Adam Thielen + Stefon Diggs catching passes, the team is in the upper echelon of the NFC North. Instead, temper your expectations about Cousins.
For the next two years, Vikings fans will likely witness good play from Cousins. So much so that he can be their franchise guy. But, they won't see MVP caliber play from him weekly. And that's okay, as long as that is known; he's a game-managing quarterback with gunslinger tendencies. But, as it currently stands, Cousins is expected to be more than that; which, he's not, so if you think he will be, he won't ever live up to expectations.
To put this into layman's terms: The Vikings have a good quarterback in Kirk Cousins, he's going to give the team top-15 play. But, because of his contract amongst other things, he may never live up to the sky-high expectations placed on him. As it currently stands, Cousins isn't a free agency bust; he's just one with copious amounts of pressure around him. Many expected to see a different player when he switched teams, but, if you've followed him, you know he's not a transcendent talent. So don't treat him like one.
If expectations are lowered to viewing Cousins as an excellent complement to the Vikings' talent, he may very well exceed them. This is the way it should be and is how I view him. But if we continue to see him as something that he's not due to a contract and statistics, then, there will be perpetual disappointment tied to him.
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