Hopefully it won’t happen, but the Minnesota Vikings could still win if Kirk Cousins ever suffers an elongated, serious injury.
Various media outlets and fans on social media often say if quarterback Kirk Cousins gets hurt and is lost for the season, then the Minnesota Vikings are basically finished. The team that beat Minnesota Vikings in the playoffs last season, the San Francisco 49ers, suffered a similar fate in 2018 when they lost quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to a season-ending ACL tear early that year.
The Niners subsequently went 4-12, and some rightfully wonder if Cousins were to suffer a similar injury this season, could the Vikings be in danger of a similar fate.
While that could be true, one player doesn’t make up an entire team.
The Vikings have more stars than just Cousins. On offense, they have explosive running back Dalvin Cook, Adam Thielen at wide receiver and a couple of solid tight ends in Kyle Rudolph and Irv Smith. Defensively they have stars at every level, with Danielle Hunter, Eric Kendricks, Harrison Smtih and Anthony Harris shining the brightest.
The Vikings also have a coaching staff whose job it is to make adjustments to the game plan when certain players go down with an injury. While a Cousins season-ending injury would definitely be catastrophic, the team still has enough talent to win without him.
Here are some ways the Vikings could still win without Kirk Cousins under center during the 2020 season.