Slow start, Cousins’ poor play results in a Vikings loss to the Packers

Allowing the Green Bay Packers to jump out to a 21-point lead and a bad afternoon by Kirk Cousins resulted in the Minnesota Vikings suffering their first loss of 2019.

The Minnesota Vikings headed to Lambeau Field on Sunday to attempt to build off their momentum from an opening week win over the Atlanta Falcons. In that game, the Vikings were able to get out to a fast start thanks to strong play from their special teams and defense, allowing Minnesota to ride Dalvin Cook‘s effort on the ground to a victory.

On Sunday against the Green Bay Packers, that didn’t happen.

Several miscues went down in the first quarter and by the time you could blink, the Packers were spotted to a 21-0 lead. Although the Vikings would make a comeback, led by another sterling game by Cook (20 carries, 154 yards, one touchdown), they would ultimately come up short as Green Bay took home the 21-16 victory.

The beginning of this game was tilted firmly into the lap of the Packers as it appeared that Minnesota simply wasn’t ready to play. One week after looking stale throughout their Week 1 victory over the Chicago Bears, Green Bay came out on fire with Aaron Rodgers connecting with Jamaal Williams on a 15-yard score to put them ahead 7-0 over the Vikings.

Minnesota drove down the field on the ensuing possession, but the kicking woes of Dan Bailey resurfaced after a strong finish to the preseason, missing a 47-yard field goal attempt to give the ball back to the Packers with sterling field position.

Green Bay capitalized on the gift from the Vikings’ special teams, with Rodgers throwing his second touchdown of the game on a 12-yard connection with Geronimo Allison to put them up 14-0. The Packers then took advantage of another short field after Kirk Cousins was sacked by Kenny Clark and fumbled, leading to a two-yard run by Aaron Jones to put the Vikings in a 21-0 hole.

But the scoring would stop there for Green Bay as Cook took over for the Vikings’ offense. The electric running back dashed for a 75-yard touchdown run to put Minnesota on the board and a fumble by Allison seemed to quickly tilt momentum in their favor.

The Vikings went on to stall multiple times from there, but a late drive gave them life as it appeared Cousins found Stefon Diggs right before halftime for a touchdown. However, the officials review called Cook for offensive pass interference, forcing Minnesota to settle for a field goal instead and trail 21-10 heading into the half.

In the second half, the Vikings had multiple opportunities to take control of the game, but they just couldn’t capitalize. A lot of that had to do with the play of Cousins, who had a game that will just pour fuel on the fire for those who believe he’s an $84 million mistake.

Although he would find Diggs for a 61-yard bomb in the third quarter, Diggs made a mistake of his own on his only catch of the day, ripping off his helmet immediately after the play which led to blocked a 47-yard extra point, putting the Vikings behind 21-16 in the third quarter.

As the game wore down, Minnesota relied on its rushing attack and thanks to the efforts of Cook and Alexander Mattison, the Vikings had a first-and-goal with just over five minutes remaining.

As Minnesota went to a passing play after moving the ball on the ground for most of the drive, Cousins lobbed a pass towards the back of the end zone that landed in the hands of Packers cornerback, Kevin King, who came down with the interception and basically sealed the game.

Overall, it was a tough afternoon for Cousins, who completed 14 of his 32 passes for 230 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions as Minnesota lost to Green Bay for the first time since 2016.

The Vikings fall to 1-1 with the loss and will have to clean up a lot before their Week 3 matchup with the Oakland Raiders next Sunday.