One day after Minnesota’s offense sputtered in a loss to Buffalo, the Vikings went out and changed the shape of their quarterback room.
The team acquired Kirk Cousins from the Raiders, sending a third-round pick the other way to bring back its former standout. It’s a measured gamble for a Minnesota team that has watched its collection of talented pass-catchers, especially Justin Jefferson, go too quiet in recent weeks.
That problem showed up again Monday night in a 23-6 defeat to the Bills. Minnesota’s defense did its job, but the offense never found a rhythm and barely threatened a Buffalo defense that has taken plenty of heat this season.
Cousins gives the Vikings something they have lacked. However people feel about him, he should be a more dangerous downfield thrower than Kyler Murray or Carson Wentz. He also knows Kevin O’Connell’s system, which should help him climb right to the top of the depth chart once he arrives - a spot he knows well.
Minnesota’s 6-2 record still puts it in the playoff picture, but the offense has not looked like that of a true contender. The Vikings are sitting in a postseason spot for now, though the Seahawks and Rams are among the teams chasing them.
The defense remains the backbone. Brian Flores’ group held Buffalo to a season-low in points even while the offense offered almost nothing in support. Unless injuries start piling up, Minnesota should keep getting enough from that side of the ball to stay competitive.
That leaves Cousins with the job of injecting life into an attack that has been searching for it. He was rolling in Las Vegas and was on pace for a career-high in passing touchdowns. If he can bring even close to that version of himself to Minnesota, the Vikings should have enough firepower to keep winning and possibly climb even higher in the NFC.
The schedule gives them a path, but not an easy one. Games against the Commanders and Jets look like the ones Minnesota should be expected to handle. If that happens, the Vikings would already be sitting on at least eight wins.
After that, the margin for error gets thin. The Packers, 49ers, Falcons, Panthers, Patriots, Lions and Bears all look like teams that could still be in the postseason mix when the season ends. Those matchups will test Minnesota, especially if Cousins needs time to settle back into O’Connell’s offense.
Still, the math is fairly clear. Since the league moved to a 17-game schedule in 2021, the seventh seed has averaged 9.6 wins.
No team with more than 11 wins has been left out in that span. If Minnesota can take three of those tougher games, it should be in strong shape to punch its ticket, particularly if some of those victories come inside the division.
The NFC North race is tight, too. Through Week 9, the Bears sit first at 7-2, followed by the Lions and Vikings at 6-2, with the Packers at 6-3. Minnesota is still right in the middle of it, trailing Detroit only because of the head-to-head tiebreaker and holding the edge over Chicago after winning on the road.
The offense may have looked stuck with Murray and Wentz running it, but it’s hard to imagine it being worse with Cousins at the controls. He brings a track record of steady production, and if he can deliver anything close to what he showed in his short Raiders stint, Minnesota should be positioned to stay in the hunt for both the division and the conference in the regular season.
In Other News...
Packers-Vikings Suddenly Carries Bigger NFC Stakes Than Expected
The Week 10 meeting with Minnesota has taken on a little more weight than a typical division game for Green Bay, with the Packers listed as three-point favorites at FanDuel and the NFC playoff race still crowded. Both the North and West divisions have multiple teams fighting for limited postseason spots, so every result around this stretch of the schedule is starting to matter a little more than it did a month ago.
Minnesotas quarterback situation adds another layer to the matchup, with Kyler Murray dealing with a hamstring injury and his availability in doubt for the Packers game. If he cannot go, Carson Wentz would be the next man up, and Green Bay will be watching closely because the difference between facing a healthy starter and a backup can shape how much this game can swing the standings. [Read more 🡒]
Vikings Are Stuck In A Division Race Unlike Anything The NFL Sees
The NFC North has turned into the kind of race that usually only exists on paper, with all four teams entering Week 10 sitting at least three games above .500. For Green Bay, the bigger picture is hard to ignore: the Packers are 6-3, right in the middle of a division where the Bears are 7-2, the Vikings are 6-1 and the Lions are 6-2, and every week seems to reshuffle the order without knocking anyone out of the hunt.
What makes it even more unusual is the pace the division is setting as a whole, with the NFC North piling up wins at a rate that has it tracking toward a historic finish. The Packers do not have the luxury of treating this like a normal division race, because the margin for error is tiny and the standard to keep up is unusually high, which is exactly why every game from here carries an outsized feel. [Read more 🡒]
Jordan Love Is Driving A Packers Surge That Feels Bigger Now
After a slow start, the Packers have settled into a run that looks a lot more like the team they expected to be, winning five of their last six and getting steadier play from Jordan Love along the way. His recent outings against the Patriots and Bears helped push the offense forward, with Christian Watson and Matthew Golden giving him more help at wide receiver and the whole operation starting to feel more coordinated.
What has stood out most inside the building is how Love has kept stacking solid days together, something Matt LaFleur has pointed to as a big reason for the turnaround. The Packers are still sorting out just how high this stretch can carry them, but the combination of a calmer quarterback, emerging targets and a more confident offense has changed the tone around the team in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]