The Minnesota Vikings were bound to lose another game over the last five weeks with three divisional opponents all on the road, but the way they lost 34-23 to the Detroit Lions felt more disheartening than anything.
The defense played poorly and the offense tried to find a way to get the victory. They even came close in doing so, as they stayed within a score until the last minute of the game.
The offense tried to carry the team on their back but it just wasn’t enough. Postgame, head coach Kevin O’Connell spoke on quarterback Kirk Cousins trying to will the team to a victory at Ford Field.
“He was attempting to will our football team to a victory,” O’Connell said of Cousins. “Justin’s adjustments he made since the last time he played against these guys, I thought he played incredibly fast and explosive and Kirk was right there with him every step of the way. I am really proud of those guys and I think that will help us continue to help us moving forward. We did a lot of different things today in the pass game to kind of have a plan of attack based off of what we saw the last time [against the Lions]. Pair that with a little bit better of a day running the football and I think that [puts us] offensively in a place where we feel like we can compete.”
This is a far cry from the Cousins that we have seen in years past. He is the catalyst behind the success of this team and having a star player like Justin Jefferson to throw to is certainly huge for this team.
He was also way better over expected on Sunday with a completion percentage 17.5 percentage points over his CPOE which ranked as the fifth-highest total this season.
The Vikings are lucky to have Cousins this season, as he is playing great football and keeping this team in games.
