Hating on Kirk Cousins is apparently still the cool thing to do

Despite the success of the Minnesota Vikings during the 2022 season, the national media is still sticking to the same uncreative analysis of Kirk Cousins.

During the 2022 regular season, Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins finished with more passing yards than Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence, he threw for more touchdowns than Justin Herbert and Tom Brady, and he turned the ball over fewer times than Josh Allen.

Despite this, and the fact that he helped lead the Vikings to at least 13 wins in their season for just the third time in the history of the franchise, the same lazy analysis is being used about Cousins by the national media as his team prepares for their first-round playoff matchup against the New York Giants on Sunday. Just take a look at this recent quarterback ranking from ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky.

Will the lazy analysis about Minnesota Vikings QB Kirk Cousins ever stop?

With the Vikings in the playoffs this season, Orlovsky and other members of the national media have been forced to talk about the purple and gold and their veteran quarterback.

Just looking at Orlovsky’s rankings, how in the world is Cousins ranked behind Lawrence and Daniel Jones? During the regular season, Jones threw for just 15 touchdowns, and he averaged slightly more than 200 passing yards per game.

Sure, the Giants quarterback also has the ability to scramble (44.3 rushing yards per matchup in 2022), but he should have at least been able to finish with more passing touchdowns than Lamar Jackson, someone who played four fewer games than Jones during the regular season and threw 17 touchdowns.

As for Lawrence, his numbers in 2022 were relatively similar to Cousins, but the Jaguars signal-caller wasn’t as successful in late-game situations for his team during the regular season as the Minnesota quarterback was.

During the 2022 campaign, Cousins led the Vikings on eight game-winning drives, compared to Lawrence, who only led Jacksonville to two game-winning drives in 2022. The Jaguars also only had nine wins with Lawrence under center this season, compared to the Vikings, who won 13 games in 2022 with Cousins in the starting lineup.

Whether it’s because the national media has too much to focus on when it comes to covering the NFL or something else, these lazy, recycled opinions likely aren’t going away anytime soon.

Does Cousins need to lead Minnesota to a win in the Super Bowl for the national opinion of him to change? Possibly, but there’s also a good chance that some national analysts are just never going to view him as a top quarterback, regardless of the amount of success he is able to help his team achieve.