5 most disappointing Vikings from their Week 2 loss to the Colts

Kirk Cousins – QB

Sure, one can say that his protection was horrible and his receivers dropped a lot of passes, but Kirk Cousins was simply off his game against the Colts.

He didn’t see open receivers and he forced the ball to Adam Thielen at times when he wasn’t open and had multiple defenders covering him. Cousins also didn’t sense pressure very well, he hung on to the ball too long at times, and he ended up taking another safety for the third straight regular-season game.

Cousins isn’t getting a lot of help from his offensive coordinator. Gary Kubiak’s play calling is head-scratching at times and he seems to forget he has Dalvin Cook to run the football.

Kubiak needs to help his struggling quarterback out with some calls that help him establish a rhythm when he’s off and allow him to build some confidence when things aren’t going well. Screens to Cook or dump-offs to the tight ends just to get some positive flow going would be extremely beneficial to the entire offense.

Kubiak clearly has some rust when it comes to the play-calling and it’s having a negative impact on Cousins early in this 2020 season.

If the Vikings are going to turn this season around and start actually competing with teams, they need Cousins to step up. He needs to become the player he was in 2019 when he willed his team back into games, made clutch throws that daggered opponents, and led Minnesota to victories.