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The Minnesota Vikings are 3-1 under first-year coach Kevin O’Connell, the best start by the franchise since 2016.
However, there’s plenty to improve upon — most notably the Vikings’ red-zone offense, which made five trips inside the 20-yard line and came away with just two touchdowns in a nail-biting win over the New Orleans Saints on October 2.
With the third-easiest schedule for the rest of the season, per Pro Football Focus, Minnesota has a serious opportunity to keep stacking wins and enter the final weeks of the season in the driver’s seat.
However, that will come on the arm of Kirk Cousins, who openly admitted he left meat on the bone against the Saints.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell addressed the offense relying on Cousins moving forward and his expectations of the veteran quarterback.
Kevin O’Connell Says Kirk Cousins Will Be More Consistent
In his postgame press conference following the win over New Orleans, O’Connell addressed his team’s will to win in different ways — gutting out a pair of close finishes over the Detroit Lions and New Orleans.
However, moving forward, O’Connell said he would like to see more consistency from the offense that should put the final nail in the coffin earlier in games.
“Ultimately, we found some plays out there, but just not consistently finishing drives,” O’Connell said in an October 2 press conference. “I know it’s not always the easiest thing to hear, but we’re four games into this thing, tons of opportunities for me to coach better, our guys to be a little bit more consistent. Hopefully, when we do that, we’ll start seeing a little bit more of pattern of results where we don’t feel like we need to come back in the end.”
Speaking to local media on Monday following the Vikings’ trip to London, O’Connell doubled down on the message of consistency, expressing his confidence that Cousins will be more consistent after the veteran quarterback struggled to finish drives, resulting in a modest 273 passing yards for a touchdown and an interception against the Saints.
“As far as where Kirk’s at, it’s still four weeks into a new offensive system for him. … I think Kirk’s going to continue to be more consistent,” O’Connell said on October 3, per Vikings insider Sam Ekstrom.
Cousins Admits He Was Overly Cautious in Red Zone
Off to a 3-1 record to start the season, Cousins is playing below his standards statistically and has room for significant improvement — solely based on his past performance and not the potential fans hope to see O’Connell unlock.
Cousins has completed 63 percent of his passes for 1,031 yards, six touchdowns and four interceptions through four games. His 84.1 passer rating through four games would be the lowest of his career as a starter if the season ended today, yet Cousins has come through with clutch throws in the fourth quarter the past two weeks.
O’Connell and Cousins showed they were on the same page on the Vikings’ opening drive against the Saints. Minnesota marched 74 yards on 13 plays, including five third-down conversions that ended with a dump-off to Alexander Mattison that the running back took 15 yards for a touchdown. It was Cousins’ only touchdown of the day, but it was a drive O’Connell called “indicative” of how the offense wants to play.
But beyond the scripted first drive of the game is when things began to unravel for the offense.
There were three opportunities in the red zone where Cousins had open looks at wide receivers and opted to throw the checkdown — decisions he openly regretted in his postgame press confernece.
The following breakdown is to understand how Cousins can elevate an offense with playmakers that frequently got open in what could have been a runaway victory in London.
The first was a checkdown on third-and-1 on the Saints’ 10-yard line with a minute left in the first half. Cousins took the first read, dumping the ball off to tight end Johnny Mundt, who could have secured the first down but dropped the ball, forcing O’Connell to bring out the field-goal team.
That one’s on Mundt, but O’Connell noted Adam Thielen was an option.
“The third-and-short that we didn’t connect on, if you look at it, I gotta take the guy who’s open for the first down, but you’d love to pump it and then work Adam on the corner,” Cousins said in his postgame press conference.
On the ensuing Saints drive, Dalvin Tomlinson sacked Andy Dalton and recovered a fumble by the New Orleans quarterback. Cousins and the offense were back in the red zone at the Saints’ 20-yard line with 56 seconds left.
On the first play of the drive, Cousins hit Jefferson on his first read for no gain. Justin Jefferson, drawing two cover men on the play, opened up K.J. Osborn on a corner route if he manipulated the corner with a pump or with his eyes — another play he acknowledged in his postgame press conference.
“Then we get the ball back after the turnover that our defense caused. Again, they’re running together. But that one again I thought when I checked it down to [Jefferson] that maybe I pump that one, get the guy flatfooted, go to K.J. for the touchdown,” Cousins said. “There’s plays where I could be greedy, try to pump it, get a touchdown there, maybe we’re not kicking field goals.”
And most notably, a play in the third quarter where Cousins hit Thielen instead of finding Jefferson on a corner route. Thielen was tackled short of the first-down marker, sending the field-goal unit out on the field again.
“There was one series in the third quarter I thought was the most disappointing one,” Cousins said. “The delay of game, which is on me. And then twice I think Justin was open for touchdowns and we didn’t connect. Checked it down to Adam once. I thought the corner was sinking and he wasn’t.”
These aren’t condemnations of Cousins, but they were three red-zone looks that if Cousins could have capitalized on one of them, Minnesota wouldn’t have found itself in as nearly of a close game late in the fourth quarter.
These types of plays are what O’Connell hopes to start seeing Cousins make and are the difference between hoping for few lucky bounces and plays at the end of the game versus dominating opponents.
“I feel great about where Kirk’s headed and obviously, there’s some things we can really coach hard, I can coach better to help him be at his best and truly start maximizing what we’re going to become as an offense,” O’Connell said.
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