3 reasons why the Vikings should pick Mike Zimmer over Kirk Cousins
By Adam Patrick
Zimmer has already been successful without Cousins
In 2018, the Vikings decided to sign Kirk Cousins to a lucrative, multi-year contract because they believed he was potentially the missing piece for a team that was just coming off a season in which they made the NFC Championship.
That’s right, Mike Zimmer led Minnesota to the conference championship in 2017 without having to pay a quarterback more than $20 million.
Zimmer’s first four seasons with the Vikings were much more successful than what the team has been able to do since Cousins arrived in 2018.
From 2014 to 2017, Minnesota won two NFC North titles, clinched two playoff berths, earned a spot in the NFC Championship, and won 61 percent of their regular-season games.
Since 2018, however, the Vikings haven’t finished atop the NFC North at all, they’ve made one trip to the postseason that ended in the divisional round, and they’ve only won 52 percent of their games during the regular season.
Minnesota was much more successful under Zimmer when Cousins wasn’t the team’s starting quarterback. So why shouldn’t Zimmer be given another opportunity to prove that he can help the team be successful, once again, without Cousins on the roster?