The way this game ended was the most Curtis Cousins ending to a game I have ever seen. The Chargers, up 28-24, decided to go for it on 4th down on the Vikings 24 yard line and did not covert. The Vikings got the ball back with 1:47 left after not being able to covert a TD on the previous drive, getting stopped at the 3 yard line. The Vikings, with no timeouts, were able to convert a 4th&5 down to the 6 yard line with :37 left in the game. This is obviously a situation where even a high school quarterback would get the team to the line quickly and spike the ball to stop the clock, right? Not with "Mr. Choke Under Pressure" Curtis Cousins! Rather than spiking the ball, Cousins' brain melted and the clock ticked all the way down to :12 second before they got the snap off. The play they ran was horrible, and Cousins decided to throw the ball to TJ Hockenson in a spot that wouldn't have even been a touchdown had he caught it and the game would have been over. Instead, the ball got deflected twice before being intercepted by the Chargers, thus ending the game. If the Vikings had just gotten to the line and spiked it with about :30 seconds left, it would have calmed the offense down and allowed them to take 3 shots at the end zone to win the game. The odds of winning would have been much higher versus what happened. And hey Curtis, maybe throw the potential game-winning TD pass to...idk...Justin Jefferson? He's only the best receiver the league has ever seen since Moss. Amazing, simply amazing.
Here are some thoughts I had:
The ending of this game solidified this being Cousins' last season as the Vikings QB. You can have all the stats you want, but football is about winning and coming up in big situations for your team. Cousins has never been able to do that when it counts.
"Pretty stats lead to paychecks. But winning creates legends and legends never die."
When the Vikings stopped the Chargers at the 24 yard line, I turned to my brother and said "No chance we're winning this game. This is way too much pressure and worst case scenario for Cousins. He will probably throw a pick." Wow.
F*** CURTIS COUSINS. In his postgame press conference, he blamed the VIKINGS FANS for being too loud after the 4th down conversion and couldn't hear the play call in his helmet. Yeah Curt, the drunk fans and 5 year old kids were yelling to SPIKE THE BALL! He is going to completely choke the end of the game away with the final 2 drives ending inside the 10-yard line and not score, and then have the audacity to blame his home fans. That is one of the craziest things I have ever seen in all of sports. There was no play to call in that situation, the only thing you do is get to the line and spike the ball. I will never understand how people like this clown. Oh sweet, he leads the league in completion percentage, total passing yards, and passing touchdowns. Of course he does the year that we are 0-3. He also accounts for 4 of our 9 turnovers this year, and he is getting those yards and touchdowns once we are down by 2+ scores. Versus the Eagles, we didn't start scoring until we were down 27-7 and, versus the Chargers, we didn't do anything we were down 21-10. This is how he has always been.
Cousins chokes in big moments and in big games. When playing for the Redskins, he had the team down to the 6 yard line against the Eagles with 5 seconds before the half and they lined up to spike the ball to eventually kick the FG to go into half up 19-10. Instead, Cousins' brain melted and he took a knee instead of spiking it, causing the clock to run out. In the playoffs last season, Cousins threw a 3 yard out route on 4th&8, ending the season for the Vikings. Last Sunday Cousins choked again, letting 25 seconds run off the clock before calling a dumb play that led to a game-ending interception, instead of spiking it. Cousins is 1-3 in the playoffs as an 8 year starter and 12-year vet. He is 10-42 against teams with winning records. He isn't the guy, time to move on. (I am leaving out a lot of examples, but you get the picture.)
When the Vikings signed Cousins, I said he would not be the answer to getting us past the NFC Championship game (I actually predicted that we would miss the playoffs LOL). I also said that signing him would eventually lead to the firing of Mike Zimmer. I then said when Kevin O'Connell and Kwesi were hired, if they decided to continue with Cousins for too long as the QB, that they would also start being talked about to be fired...fans and media are now talking about how they should both be fired. It is unbelievable how predictable this is.
Vikings now have 9 turnovers in 3 games, 4 of them by our starting QB.
I don't care about stats if we don't win any meaningful games. If we have a QB throwing for 3,000 yards but are making playoff runs and having success, isn't that the goal? Take a shot on a young QB, isn't that why we hired KOC and KAM? You can also build a better team around a rookie contract QB. Stop extending this bum.
We ain't making the playoffs this season now that we are 0-3. Miracles would need to happen.
Justin Herbert and Keenan Allen had an amazing game. Herbert went 40-47 with 405 yards and 3TD, while Keenan Allen had 18 catches for 215 yards including a 49 yard TD pass! Gotta give kudos to those 2!
Week 4, the 0-3 Vikings will travel to the 0-3 Panthers. Adam Thielen is coming off his best game of the season and rookie, first overall pick QB Bryce Young will be looking for his first NFL win. With the way the Vikings are turning over the ball, like pancakes on a Sunday morning, I can't predict a Vikings win. I predict Bryce Young to lead the Panthers to their first win of the season with a final score of 31-17. It isn't the end of the world. This coming NFL draft is projected to be filled with a handful of QB prospects, so if there is any season for the Vikings to have a down year, this is the season. I always want to see the Vikings win because losing sucks, but it is not the end of the world if we do lose. At least we get to watch Justin Jefferson and Ivan Pace Jr every game! Go Vikings!
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