Vikings Trying to Get Back to Even, Face Browns Sunday

  • Posted By: Andrew Zimmel
  • October 1, 2021 @ 8:41 am
  • Local Sports
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Andrew Zimmel | KBMW 1450

Consistency. It’s a concept that we started the season with for the Vikings (1-2). Can Kirk Cousins look consistent for four quarters? Could Dalvin Cook stay consistently healthy? Could Mike Zimmer consistently have a game plan, or would Offensive Coordinator Klint Kubiak look over his head? Sunday’s match up against the Cleveland Browns (2-1) may answer some, if not all, of those questions.

The Vikings were able to get their first win of the season last Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks, and it was good enough for the national media to overreact. Typical. Since Monday, Viking fans have been subjected to talking head after talking head taking stats and twisting them into overreactions and hot takes that could set up fans for disappointment. 

The biggest overreaction? The play of Quarterback Kirk Cousins.

Has Kirk Cousins played well? Yes. Sunday will be the quarter mark of the season and Cousins has looked great. Cousins ranks sixth in passing yards with 918 yards(fourth in the NFC) fourth in touchdowns with eight (third in the NFC) and fourth in completion percentage at almost 74% (third in the NFC).  He is the only quarterback in the NFL with at least eight TDs and no interceptions this year. This is the best start of Kirk Cousins’ career, but everyone’s a little too excited about it for my liking.

Yes, Arizona has a top five defense according to Pro Football Focus, the advanced football grading site, but the Cardinals have taken down the underachieving Titans and the hopeless Jacksonville Jaguars. Not exactly the toughest competition. The Cincinnati Bengals have a top seven defense, neither team looked that great in the season opener when the Vikings fumbled away the game. As for Seattle, their defense ranks seven spots lower than the Vikings do at 19.

My point, if the Vikings and their fans think they are going to cakewalk to an NFC North title, based on Cousins games against average defenses, they are going to be in for a rude wake up call with Cleveland coming to town. 

Defense travels, and for the Browns, that is a good thing. Cleveland absolutely dismantled the Chicago Bears and rookie QB Justin Fields last week, holding the Bears under 50 total yards, six points, and almost doubling their time of possession. The Browns also have All Pro Defensive End Myles Garrett who had 4.5 sacks on his own against Chicago. 

To the Vikings credit, they’ve done an OK job of keeping Cousins on his feet, and Kirk has done a good job of getting rid of the ball quicker than in years past. Cousins has only been sacked five times so far this season.

Dalvin Cook also returned to practice Wednesday, so there’s a good chance that the Vikings will have their Pro Bowl running back return to the fold. After Alexander Mattison’s performance, the drop off between RB1 and RB2 isn’t as great as some previously thought. 

But the elephant in the room is the defense of the Vikings. Against Seattle, the defense forced two punts in the second half but it was more a credit to the offense for keeping the defense off the field than the defense helping the team pull out a win. 

Seattle had two good wideouts in DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, but a middling offensive line and running game. Wilson is great, but unless you are a select few QBs in the league, it’s almost impossible to make up for a porous defense. Even with a bad OL, Wilson was able to throw for almost 300 yards and Metcalf took corner Patrick Patterson’s lunch money on multiple possessions. 

Cleveland’s Baker Mayfield is no Wilson, but he brings a lot of the same talents to the table. An ability to move in the pocket, good accuracy, but bigger than that is the other skill possession weapons he has at his disposal. Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. should make the Vikings’ secondary lose sleep at night.

To add to the potential Viking suffering, the Browns’ running back room of Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt is one of the best in the business. Chubb is third in the league in rushing yards and Hunt is the secondary punch of power, speed and athleticism that puts defenses on their heels.

And that’s why the “Cousins for MVP” crowd needs to simmer down. The last time the NFL gave the MVP to a player on a team that missed the playoffs was OJ Simpson in 1973. The Juice rushed for 2k yards and 12 TDs, both league leaders in a 14 game season. Unless Cousins is breaking passing records (which is entirely possible with an extra game this season), the Vikings will have to be a playoff contender for Captain Kirk to get his flowers.

Which brings us back to Sunday. The Vikings’ offense will have its challenges, I am almost sure that Garrett will have an end of year highlight or two, but I’m much more concerned with what the defense will be able to muster. The Vikings pass defense has given up the sixth most passing yards and 12th most rushing yards in the league. 

For the Vikings to win and get back to .500 it’ll take a defense full of names to put up stats against Baker Mayfield. The player I am most excited to watch: Danielle Hunter, who teammate Sheldon Richardson said was “a better football player than Myles Garrett” 

Prediction: Vikings 28 Browns 24

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