The Minnesota Vikings traded for Kirk Cousins on Tuesday, and a lot of fans believe it’s a move that could save their season. But in the case of Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell, it may have been a move that saves his job.
O’Connell had plenty of heat coming out of Monday night’s loss to the Buffalo Bills. With Carson Wentz and Kyler Murray struggling at quarterback, he went back to his old security blanket to lift a struggling offense and championship-caliber defense. But while Cousins may be qualified, that could wind up being a tall order.
According to the latest FanSided quarterback rankings conducted by site experts and editors, Cousins ranked 24th among all quarterbacks. He also landed in Tier 5 of the survey, which puts him in the “Game Manager” category, defined as “a competent starter who needs a supporting cast.”
The argument can be made that Cousins will be returning to the best supporting cast of his career after being acquired from the Las Vegas Raiders. But the study also shows that O’Connell may be asking too much as he tries to take the Vikings where he never has before.
Kevin O’Connell’s failed quarterback experiments led the Vikings back to Kirk Cousins
The path that brought Cousins back to Minnesota has been lined by O’Connell’s missteps at quarterback. The Vikings made the right decision to let Cousins leave as he signed a four-year, $180 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons in the spring of 2024.
But according to ESPN’s Kevin Seifert, “no one in the building wanted Cousins back more than O’Connell, who had built a relationship with the quarterback based on positive feedback and honesty.”
The quarterback gravitron started spinning from there as O’Connell correctly identified Sam Darnold as a replacement, but the Vikings allowed him to leave in order to start J.J. McCarthy in 2025.
That failed experiment shifted things into another gear as Wentz, Max Brosmer, and Kyler Murray all got cracks to fill the void, and O’Connell even altered his offense, installing the pistol formation and revamping his running scheme to fit Murray’s skill set.
None of that worked, which is why the Vikings crawled back to Cousins this week. But it also means a lot of the work this offseason is about to be thrown in the trash.
O’Connell already knows Cousins’s skill set, and it helped him complete 67.1 percent of his passes for 6,878 yards, 47 touchdowns, and 19 interceptions in 25 games.
But Cousins was also asked to do a lot over those years, tying an NFL record with eight fourth-quarter comebacks in 2022 and having to bring the Vikings back from a 1-4 start with three straight wins before tearing his Achilles in 2024.
With that in mind, the Vikings could go back to that offense where Cousins averaged 38 attempts per game under O’Connell during his previous two seasons.
Vikings may ask too much of Kirk Cousins in his reunion tour
There are valid points for a counterargument. The Vikings' defense and special teams have been championship-caliber all season long. Many of the weapons Cousins had when he left Minnesota are still there, with Justin Jefferson, T.J. Hockenson, and Jordan Addison leading the charge.
In theory, all Cousins needs to do is live up to the game manager status in FanSided’s survey to take the Vikings to the playoffs and make noise when they get there. But O’Connell’s playcalling may not be the only weakness he needs to cover up.
The interior of the offensive line was a big sticking point during Cousins’s last stint in Minnesota. Losing Donovan Jackson was a big blow for the Vikings earlier this year, and the inconsistent performance of Blake Brandel and Will Fries could be easily exploited with a pocket quarterback like Cousins in the lineup.
The Vikings’ lack of a running game could also hurt Cousins. While Cousins played well in 2022, he also had the benefit of Dalvin Cook in the backfield, who ran for 1,173 yards and eight touchdowns that season.
Figuring out a running game has been a Rubik’s Cube for O’Connell ever since, and it may require Cousins to do more heavy lifting than people think.
Maybe Cousins will be up for the challenge, and O’Connell will live up to what he said earlier in the season: that stats don’t matter as long as the Vikings are winning games.
But a trade for Cousins shows that he believes the approach under Murray wasn’t working, and it could lead to the familiar refrain of asking his quarterback to do more than he’s capable of.
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