For this 2018 regular season, Kirk Cousins will be starting for the Minnesota Vikings after signing a 3 year deal that is fully guarantee (wow, how did he pull that off?). Given how the team made the conference championship last season, there is a lot of expectation for him to seal the deal and give this choking dog of a franchise its first ever Lombardi Trophy. Meanwhile, Case Keenum will be taking his talents (seems like everyone uses that phrase in the post-decision era) to the Mile High City.
As we enter this upcoming season, one should expect a slew of uneducated festering hot take to rise up from the ground and clutter the airwaves and television regarding the NFL. In this specific topic, one should expect a bunch of dumb takes about Kirk Cousins if the Vikings don’t finish with as good of a regular season record as last season, much less make the Super Bowl.
If the Viqueens (sorry Vikings fans, couldn’t help myself) finish with an 11-5 record for instance, you know sports media hacks from places such as the four letter sports network or from the other knock off channels bombarding cable will be saying that Kirk Cousins is not as good as Case Keenum or that he didn’t live up to his contract.
When that inevitably happens, it will once again show how lame these sports pundits are. Most of them either were in the league in some capacity once or they were “sports journalists” that eventually landed their television and radio gigs. These people spend years covering the sport so one would think they would be able to give the fans an insight into the nuances of the game that they didn’t already know. However, the best we can get will be opinions like “Oh, Kirk Cousins couldn’t live up to the pressure of his contract and of taking this great team further”. That’s something you would see in some sports forum by a 13 year old.
Anyway, I digress. These takes are dumb because it would be ignoring many factors such as strength of schedule, injuries, and a new offensive system. Kirk Cousins can and probably will play well, but the team most likely won’t get 13 wins. It won’t be because he couldn’t handle the pressure but because the schedule is very tough compared to last year.
Here’s the team’s schedule
| Week | Team |
| 1 | Vs. 49ers |
| 2 | @ Packers |
| 3 | Vs. Bills |
| 4 | @ Rams |
| 5 | @ Eagles |
| 6 | Vs. Cardinals |
| 7 | @ Jets |
| 8 | Vs. Saints |
| 9 | Vs. Lions |
| 10 | Bye |
| 11 | @ Bears |
| 12 | Vs. Packers |
| 13 | @ Patriots |
| 14 | @ Seahawks |
| 15 | Vs. Dolphins |
| 16 | @ Lions |
| 17 | Vs. Bears |
As you can see here, this is their schedule. You’re welcome. They’ll face playoff teams like the Eagles, Rams, Patriots, and Saints. It also includes match-ups against competitive teams this season such as the 49ers, Lions twice, and Seahawks. The Bears will be improved while the Packers are obviously a contender with Aaron Rodgers back. The team will be having a new offensive coordinator in John DeFilippo, a former quarterback coach of the Eagles just last season. Pat Shurmur, the team’s offensive coordinator from last season, will be head coaching the New York Giants.
As a result, all the players on offense and not just Cousins will be breaking in a new offense. Cousins also has to do that while adjusting to new receivers. These changes added with a tough early season schedule would cause me to not be shocked if the team starts out 2-3 or 3-2. Obviously, you guys and the media “experts” are going to rush into conclusions as usual.
Other different circumstances this season includes how Rodger’s return will help to improve the Packers and probably make it more likely that the Vikings will only split the Packers, not sweep them like they did last season. We also can’t expect this Vikings defense to stay as healthy this season as they were last year.
Kirk Cousins is an upgrade over Case Keenum due to him having a stronger arm and being more accurate. Case Keenum displayed an ability to make nice touch deep balls on the outside to Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs. However, there isn’t any throw Case Keenum can make that Kirk Cousins can’t.
One of Keenum’s strengths was his nimbleness in the pocket and his prowess in extending plays. However, Cousins showed improvements in those areas last season. Go open up another tab and check out videos on their abilities on YouTube or something. I’m not going to do all the work for you guys.
Kirk Cousins’ upgrade over Case Keenum and the other guys they have on their roster from their previous season helps to give them a better at chance at winning the Super Bowl not just this year but for their window of the next three seasons (He signed a 3 year deal, not 1 year. Remember?) even if things are not always going to be smooth sailing at points this season.
