For Cousins to finally win the big game
Throughout Kirk Cousins’ career, there has been the elephant in the room that he’s incapable of winning the big game.
Despite throwing for his usual picture-perfect stats (3,603 yards, 26 touchdowns, six interceptions), Cousins doesn’t really have a signature victory unless you count Minnesota’s Week 6 win over the NFC East champion Philadelphia Eagles or the Vikings’ Week 10 win on “Sunday Night Football” over the Dallas Cowboys, who finished the season at 8-8.
Even with a team that again finished 10-6 and made it to the playoffs in a year where the NFC is crazy competitive, Cousins once again finds himself under the bright light. But there’s an easy solution; just win the game.
Cousins’ career stats against the Saints are outstanding as he’s averaged 335 passing yards per game while throwing for a total of nine touchdowns and just one interception in three starts. The issue is that none of these starts came in the playoffs, where Cousins is 0-1 despite throwing for 329 yards and a touchdown against in a 2015 wild-card matchup with the Packers.
By leading Minnesota to a win over the Saints on Sunday, Cousins can take another step toward in shedding the big game stigma that New Orleans defensive end Cameron Jordan went out of his way to mention in an interview on the “Rich Eisen Show” earlier this week.
If Cousins comes up short again, the Vikings may be forced to go out of their way to find his successor during the upcoming offseason even though he’s still under contract for 2020.