Kirk Cousins and the Minnesota Vikings received no shortage of criticism for their final offensive play in their loss against the New York Giants on Sunday. Cousins threw a checkdown pass on 4th and long which saw Minnesota come up 5 yards short of the first down marker. However, some people around the NFL world defended Kirk Cousins after the play.

Former NFL QB Kurt Warner admitted that he understood why Minnesota and Cousins made their decision before breaking down the play.

Giants beat reporter Dan Duggan felt that Kirk Cousins' checkdown pass avoided a worst case scenario.

“Seen lazy criticisms of Cousins on this play. He was about to get sacked. He got the ball to one of his best players in a 1-on-1. Obviously not ideal to be so far short of the sticks and good job by McKinney to make the tackle, but it beat ending the game on a sack,” Duggan wrote on Twitter.

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Finally, ESPN's Kevin Seifert said the Vikings lost because of their defense and not the final checkdown pass from Kirk Cousins.

“Reiterating that the Vikings lost b/c of their defense. NOT this play. But here is a wider view of what Kirk Cousins saw on 4th down. Dexter Lawrence bearing down on him. Jefferson doubled. Thielen working deep out. Osborn is about to pop open when Cousins decides,” Seifert shared on Twitter.

The Vikings and Kirk Cousins will still face no shortage of trolling and backlash following their defeat. But there is some support behind their final checkdown pass. Nevertheless, it is going to be a long offseason in Minnesota.