5 Vikings players to watch vs. the Chiefs in Week 9

Kirk Cousins – QB

Kirk Cousins is on a hot streak. He’s been a changed man since the early portions of the season where an embarrassing amount of Vikings fans went as far as calling for Sean Mannion to become the starter. Cousins is making them all look like fools with the way he’s throwing the football.

Since the loss in Chicago, Cousins has thrown for 1,262 yards with 10 touchdowns to one interception. He’s taking deep shots down the field, and utilizing play-action much more than before. He’s also playing with an edge and much more fire than Vikings fans are used to seeing from the meek and mild-mannered quarterback.

In his hot stretch, Cousins has also gotten some monkeys off his back. He has beaten teams with winning records, won on the road, and also won in primetime. These are all demons that he’s battled in his career, and areas where his overall record is still very bad.

This Sunday he has a chance to again disassociate himself with the stigma that he can’t beat a winning team on the road. The Kansas City Chiefs are a 4-3 team that has one of the biggest home-field advantages in the NFL. The Chiefs have lost three out of their last four games and are going to be determined to come out on top this Sunday.

This will be a very tough game for the Vikings to win. It would be nice to see Cousins once again play out of his head, and will his Vikings team to a victory. If he can do that, the talk about him not winning in a big spot will surely subside.