Why Kirk Cousins deserves blame for the firing of Mike Zimmer

Let’s not sit here and pretend that Kirk Cousins is undeserving of any blame when it comes to the Minnesota Vikings firing of head coach Mike Zimmer.

One didn’t need to have fully functioning eyes to see that the relationship between Kirk Cousins and former Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer was as close to non-existent as possible without actually being non-existent.

Instead of developing any sort of closeness during their four years together, Cousins and Zimmer’s relationship seemed to only get worse as time passed by.

Recently, we found out how the former Vikings head coach reportedly shared his frustrations about the quarterback during meetings with his coaching staff last season.

Former Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer grew tired of Kirk Cousins not taking chances

On Monday, The Athletic’s Chad Graff revealed that Zimmer reportedly “complained openly in coaching meetings about Cousins,” last season because the former Minnesota head coach “didn’t feel the quarterback made enough ‘winning plays’,” and that Cousins “didn’t elevate his teammates.”

It didn’t really matter how much Zimmer complained though because it wasn’t like he was going to bench Cousins for Sean Mannion or Kellen Mond.

The former Vikings head coach and the veteran quarterback did attempt to at least interact on a consistent basis last season when they reportedly met each week for 45 minutes. But this still felt forced more than anything.

Zimmer catches a lot of the blame from the public for this relationship going sour, but Cousins shouldn’t be let off the hook either. As the starting quarterback and the highest-paid player on the team, he should’ve made a much larger effort to get on the same page with his head coach, regardless of their differences.

We never heard about Cousins arriving to the Vikings facilities during the early hours of the morning to watch film with Zimmer or the quarterback staying late at night to go over game plans with his former head coach. We never heard about that, because it never happened.

Don’t think that this is to say Zimmer didn’t deserve blame for his lack of relationship with Cousins either. But there were two parties involved in this relationship and both are to blame for it never getting to the level necessary to help Minnesota succeed.

This topic was discussed on the most recent episode of The Viking Age Podcast, which is now available in a video format on the site’s YouTube channel.

In addition to this topic, a discussion was had about what the Vikings should be watching for during this week’s NFL Scouting Combine, and whether or not we can properly evaluate Minnesota’s 2021 rookie class.

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