How Has Kirk Cousins Performed Against the Vikings’ 2021 Opponents?

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Cousins walks out onto his vast, vast field of money.

Minnesota’s 2021 schedule is set up to be quite the gauntlet. With seven of 2020’s playoff teams on the docket for next year, the Vikings look like they will be stuck with one of the toughest schedules in the league. Not only that, but other teams look like they are improving as J.J. Watt went to the Cardinals, and there are rumors of Deshaun Watson eventually landing in Carolina. 

While the Vikings may have a difficult road ahead of them, I thought it would be interesting to see how Kirk Cousins has performed against these opponents throughout his career. Does this actually mean anything going into 2021? No, probably not. I just wanted to have a little fun. 

AFC North

Baltimore Ravens: 2-0

Cincinnati Bengals: 0-0-1

Cleveland Browns: 2-0

Pittsburgh Steelers: 0-1

Kirk’s Total Record: 4-1-1

Cousins hasn’t played against the AFC North since 2016 while he was still in Washington. This was back in olden times when Cody Kessler, Andy Dalton, and Joe Flacco still had starting jobs, and before Antonio Brown and Le’veon Bell drama-queened their way out of Pittsburgh. It’s safe to say a lot has changed since then, but 4-1-1 is still a respectable record against any division. 

NFC West

Arizona Cardinals: 2-2

San Francisco 49ers: 2-0

Seattle Seahawks: 1-4

LA Rams: 2-1

Kirk’s Total Record: 7-6

Cousins has gotten very familiar with the NFC West for someone to have never played in the division. This is mainly due to the fact that Washington had them on the schedule in 2017, and the Vikings were slated to face them in 2018 as well. 

Cousins’ first game for the Vikings was a 24-16 victory against the 49ers, so that’s a cool moment to look back on. He has also played Seattle in each of the last four seasons. He’s struggled in the majority of these games, losing three of them, and threw for 247 yards and zero touchdowns in the sole victory with Washington in 2017. He went 2-2 against the division in 2018; the last year he has faced them in their entirety. 

NFC North

Chicago Bears: 3-4

Detroit Lions: 6-1

Green Bay Packers: 3-3-1

Kirk’s Total Record: 12-8-1

Obviously, the NFC North is the meat and potatoes of Cousin’s schedule every year. It is a little surprising that his worst record is against the Bears and not the Packers, but I guess that’s just how the cookie crumbles. The difference comes in 2018 when Minnesota went 1-0-1 against Green Bay while dropping both games to Chicago. 

As we know, the Vikings went 4-2 against the North in 2020, splitting their games with Chicago and Green Bay while sweeping the season series against Detroit. And, for anyone curious, Cousins is 1-1 in his career against the purple and gold. 

The Other Third Place Finishers

Dallas Cowboys: 2-7

Carolina Panthers: 1-2

Kirk’s Total Record: 3-9

Pretty ugly numbers here. Cousins’ Cowboys curse returned in 2020 as Minnesota dropped 28-31 head scratcher in week 11 immediately after they went on a three-game winning streak against Green Bay, Detroit, and Chicago. Granted, the offense played well enough to win, but the defense let them down. It seemed like Cousins had finally dropped that monkey off his back in 2019 when he led the Vikings to a 28-24 victory at Jerry’s World, though. Before that game, he had lost four in a row against the Cowboys. 

In 2020, Cousins also got his first win against Carolina in the ridiculous 28-27 comeback. We all remember this one. The Vikings scored 18 fourth quarter points and ended with a touchdown pass to Chad Beebe, who redeemed his muffed punt that occurred just two minutes earlier. Cousins had lost the first two matchups against the Panthers in 2015 and 2016.

Closing Thoughts

Like I said at the start, Cousin’s career record of 26-23-2 against Minnesota’s 2021 opponents probably means very little in the grand scheme of things. It is interesting, though, to see some of the trends that have occurred throughout his NFL tenure. It’s also fun to go back and remember what the league used to be like even if it was just four or five years ago. Thanks to all the readers for tuning in, and until next time, enjoy this hectic time of year called the NFL offseason.

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