What were the high points and low points of the 2019 season for Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins?
This formally kicks offThe Vikings Age‘s 17-part (hopefully 20-part) series on Kirk Cousins‘ high and lows from each game throughout the upcoming 2020 season. Each week, the positive aspects of his performance will be uplifted as well as the not-so-great occurrences from each game.
As a review of sorts, a look-back at the 2019 campaign is in order. Cousins finished the 2019 season with a comely 107.4 passer rating, the best of his eight-year career. It also placed his passer rating at No. 4 on the NFL’s leaderboard behind only Ryan Tannehill, Lamar Jackson, and Drew Brees. With 26 touchdown passes, Cousins equaled the paydirt totals set by Patrick Mahomes, Deshaun Watson, Aaron Rodgers, and Matt Ryan — all finished the year with 26 touchdown tosses.
The Vikings fell short of winning the NFC North but did upset the New Orleans Saints in the wildcard round playoffs behind theatrics courtesy of Danielle Hunter, Adam Thielen, Kyle Rudolph, and the aforementioned Cousins. Minnesota followed up their New Orleans jaw-dropper with a rather irksome performance versus the San Francisco 49ers. The Vikings were booted from the postseason by the 49ers by the score of 27-10 in a game where Minnesota simply could not stop the run.
Overall, Minnesota benefited from Cousins’ stellar performance, although there was room for improvement that arose along the way. Let’s have a look at some 2019 positives and negatives.