Minnesota Vikings: 3 Vital statistics for 2019 season

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Back to Kirk Cousins. The 2012 fourth-round pick of the Washington Redskins had quite the statistical year in his first season with his new team. With the Vikings, he connected on an impressive 70.1 percent of his throws and finished 10th in the league with 4,298 yards through the air.

The seven-year pro has started every game for his team the past four seasons and in 2018, he served up a career-best 30 touchdown passes.

But this was a Minnesota offense that was very imbalanced, one reason for the team’s inconsistent performance throughout the year. Another factor was the play of an offensive front that just did not get the job done.

Cousins was sacked 40 times and too many times, put the ball on the ground after being hit. He would fumble nine times and lose seven of those drops. Combine that with his 10 interceptions and the talented signal-caller accounted for 17 of the club’s 20 turnovers this past season.

In seven NFL seasons, Cousins has fumbled 46 times and lost 22 of those bobbles. He must do a much better job protecting the football even if he winds up in harm’s way. Without question, the offensive line has to be better. But the experienced signal-caller must minimize the mistakes.