Vikings Say They Have Good Chemistry Heading Into Regular Season
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Minnesota Vikings spent big on a quarterback this offseason, placing an $84-million bet that Kirk Cousins will take them farther than Case Keenum did last year.
On Sunday, we start to find out whether it will pay off.
Nothing is more important in that area than Cousins chemistry with his pass catchers, and they shared their thoughts on the topic Thursday.
We saw the connection immediately. That first drive of that first preseason game, Cousins connecting with Stefon Diggs for three completions and a touchdown.
The rest of the preseason was more of a mixed bag. Four more completions to Diggs, four total to Adam Thielen, and just one to Kyle Rudolph.
How important is chemistry? And how quickly can it be built? These are questions vital to the Vikings' ability to get off to a good start.
"There's been so many questions of unknowns. New quarterback, new offensive coordinator, a few different new pieces up front," Rudolph said. "And I've loved the way that this offense has worked, since we got back in April. And I'm just excited to go out and set the tone for the season."
"You build trust over catching the ball. You build trust over being where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there," Diggs said.
"Each day in practice, you start to gain some of that, but I think the biggest thing is going out there and making plays in games," Thielen said.
"We've had our fair share of quarterback changes here over the years. So having an entire offseason to work on trust and chemistry is kind of nice. You know, you think back the last couple years, it was like 10 days before we played together that we had to do all that work. So, you know, we've had a little over four months, which seems like four years," Rudolph said.
The questions about chemistry will always be there until you actually see it work in a game that matters. And that first test will finally come on Sunday. And the Vikings are confident they are ready.
The San Francisco 49ers got their quarterback of the present and the future in a trade with the New England Patriots at the end of October, acquiring Jimmy Garoppolo.