3 biggest Vikings scapegoats from Minnesota’s loss to the Eagles

Kirk Cousins – QB

When a team loses a game, one of the first people that is looked at is the quarterback. When you look at Kirk Cousins after the Vikings’ Week 2 loss, it is more than fair to put blame on his shoulders.

Cousins threw three interceptions, all of which were in scoring territory for Minnesota. Cousins looked to be forcing a lot of passes into windows that not even Patrick Mahomes could hit, and it only bolstered the narrative around him that he can’t win in primetime.

But not all of the blame should fall on Cousins’ shoulders.

Minnesota tight end Irv Smith Jr. had a horrendous drop late in the second quarter that was destined to be a touchdown. Justin Jefferson took the blame for Cousins’ first interception, saying that he did not run his route correctly, leading to a Darius Slay interception in the end zone.

And with the Eagles’ defense getting pressure on Cousins as he threw on multiple occasions, the passes that he made were less than ideal.

Cousins had himself quite the awful game by any standards. There is no way to deny that fact. A one-touchdown, three-interception performance in primetime is hardly ever going to win games, and we all saw that on Monday night.

But as a team, there was not much help for the Minnesota quarterback when he was clearly struggling, leading to a snowballing of events that resulted in a 17-point defeat.