4 problems the Vikings need to fix during their bye week

Cousins’ confidence

Things have to get better and quickly for quarterback Kirk Cousins. The beleaguered signal-caller goes into the bye week on the back of his worst performance of the season and getting his confidence up before he takes the field again is going to be crucial for the Vikings if they want to gain any semblance of respectability going forward.

There will always be those who question whether Cousins is good enough to take Minnesota where they want to go. But the fact of the matter is that the Vikings are tied down to the quarterback until at least 2022 thanks in no small part to the two-year extension he signed this offseason to give the team some salary cap breathing space.

Cousins came into the year on the back of an impressive 2019 campaign that resulted in a Pro Bowl appearance and a first playoff victory on the road. There seemed to be growing confidence that this could be the springboard for bigger and better things in the future. But the signal-caller has reverted to playing with a sort of inconsistency that is infuriating at times.

Cousins already has 10 interceptions to his name this year, which is four more than he gave up during the entire 2019 regular season. It will be up to Mike Zimmer and Gary Kubiak to alter the offensive scheme to allow Cousins to get his confidence up while taking into consideration the obvious problems surrounding his protection.