Kirk Cousins' best games with the Minnesota Vikings
MINNEAPOLIS — Six years ago, the Minnesota Vikings signed Kirk Cousins in the hopes he would be the one to finally bring them to Super Bowl glory.
It didn't work out, for myriad reasons. Cousins is leaving Minnesota for Atlanta with just one playoff win to his name. He started 88 games for the Vikings, third-most in franchise history. A few of them were great, some of them were good, some of them were bad and most of them were somewhere in between.
With the Cousins era concluded, let's look back at some of his finest moments in purple and gold.
Sept. 27, 2018: Vikings 31, Los Angeles Rams 38
Stats: 36/50 completions, 422 yards, three touchdowns, one fumble
This was not the first great game of Cousins' Vikings tenure, but it was the most memorable of his first season in Minnesota. The final score is more reflective of the defense's inability to stop the Rams' butterfly knife of an offense than any failing on Cousins' part. Cousins and opposing QB Jared Goff were throwing darts back and forth all night.
Two of his touchdowns came on pinpoint passes to Aldrick Robinson, while he hit a wide-open Adam Thielen for his third. Cousins didn't play perfectly in this one — he threw two near-picks and his fumble on the final drive sealed the Vikings' loss — but this was the first time he showed that he could duel with the best of them.
Nov. 17, 2019: Denver Broncos 23, Vikings 27
Stats: 29/35, 319 yards, three touchdowns, one fumble
This game was an early look at comeback Cousins, a reputation he would later solidify in 2022 when he had eight comeback wins in a 13-3 season.
Down 20-0 after two quarters, Cousins played pretty much perfectly in the second half to lead the Vikings to victory. His first score — a nice, hard throw to Irv Smith Jr. — was set up by a moonshot to Stefon Diggs. He hit Diggs for his second touchdown with a pass rusher right in his face. Then, Cousins hit a wide-open Kyle Rudolph for the winning TD.
This game was a true team effort — Dalvin Cook provided plenty of juice on the ground and the defense ratcheted up the pressure in the second half — but the comeback doesn't happen without Cousins' clean play.
Sept. 26, 2021: Seattle Seahawks 17, Vikings 30
Stats: 30/38, 323 yards, three touchdowns
Before this game, Russell Wilson was a perfect 7-0 against the Vikings. Beating the "albatRuss" might've put it on the list anyway, but Cousins played like a gunslinger in this one to lead the Vikings to a dominant win.
The Seahawks took an earlier 17-7 lead before Cousins went turbo mode. He threw the ball all over the field, threading his first TD to Tyler Conklin, rocketing his second to Thielen and displaying some touch on his third to Justin Jefferson.
Cousins was — forgive the football guy term — gritty in this one, too, standing tall in the pocket, recovering his own fumble and even playing a play on one shoe. Part of Cousins' lasting reputation will be his toughness, and this game was a perfect example.
Sept. 11, 2022: Packers 7, Vikings 23
Stats: 23/32, 277 yards, two touchdowns
Cousins' stats didn't wow in this one, but the first look at what he could do in new head coach Kevin O'Connell's offense was thrilling. Aided by an otherworldly performance by Jefferson, Cousins led the Vikings to a 17-0 lead at halftime that they would never surrender.
Though the offense slowed in the second half, Cousins still made some really nice throws. Coupled with a cannonball performance by the Vikings' pass rush, the team started the O'Connell era with a dominant win over their biggest rivals.
Oct. 23, 2023: San Francisco 49ers 17, Vikings 22
Stats: 35/48, 378 yards, two touchdowns, one interception
This would end up being Cousins' last full game in the Vikings uniform, and it may very well have been his finest hour.
Cousins looked every bit the elite quarterback the Vikings hoped he would be when they signed him in 2018. He saw the field well, made good use of his time in the pocket and extended plays when that pocket disappeared. He spread the ball around and avoided sacks. He even had a couple of nice throws dropped, including a would-be touchdown to Jordan Addison that was thwarted by defensive pass interference.
Cousins played extremely well the next week, too, before being injured late in a 24-10 win over the Packers, marking the end of his time with the Vikings.
Honorable mentions
In Cousins' only career playoff win — Jan. 5, 2020, against the New Orleans Saints — he was fairly pedestrian. But beyond the narrative value of the win, this game gets an honorable mention because of the two throws that sealed it. The first was a gorgeous 43-yard bomb to Thielen that put the Vikings in scoring range in overtime. The second was a rainbow to Kyle Rudolph, put where only the massive tight end could get it, to end the game with a walk-off TD. The Vikings surely predicted more playoff success when they signed Cousins, but the one win he gave them was at least memorable.
The other honorable mention goes to the greatest comeback in NFL history — Dec. 17, 2022, against the Indianapolis Colts. Down 33-0 at the half, thanks in part to a pick-six from Cousins, the Vikings were all but dead in the water. But with nothing to lose, Cousins let it rip in the second half, throwing four touchdowns in the second half to lead the Vikings to a 39-36 overtime win. This one didn't make the list because Cousins helped put the Vikings in the hole he eventually dragged them out of, but a 33-point comeback is historic, no matter how it happened.
