Kirk Cousins and the Minnesota Vikings were knocked out of the playoffs following their loss to the New York Giants.
Kirk Cousins, the quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, looked like a different player this year. His team finished with 13 wins during the regular season, which was by far the most in his whole tenure. He found a new coach in Kevin O’Connell who had faith in him and encouraged him to throw more passes than he had ever thrown before while also presenting him with fewer schematic roadblocks than he had ever encountered.
In the end, though, Cousins found himself in a situation that was all too familiar on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium: he would be returning home for the summer without having won a playoff game. His third loss in his career’s four postseason games came when the Minnesota Vikings were defeated by the New York Giants 31-24. He stated that this particular loss brought a new degree of agony to him.
After the loss, Kirk Cousins said, “It hurts, It hurts. I’m probably missing one, but this is probably the toughest loss I’ve had in my career.”
After that, Kirk Cousins extended on his previous statement by mentioning the success of the Vikings throughout the regular season as well as the likelihood that several pending free agents, such as center Garrett Bradbury and tailback Alexander Mattison, may leave the team during the summer.
Cousins said, “Thirteen wins, I haven’t really sniffed that before, And just the fact that the group, the Garretts and the Alexes that … are free agents that are not guaranteed to be back, I think it’s hard to walk off the field.”
On Sunday, Cousins played a game that was, in a number of respects, his finest of the season. He recorded his greatest Total QBR of the season by rushing for a score and completing 31 of 39 passes for 273 yards and two touchdowns while also completing the ball himself (85.2). Despite this, the Vikings were unable to escape suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of the Giants despite their best efforts.
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