Kirk Cousins is another chapter in the Vikings’ bad investment history
History has repeated itself with the Kirk Cousins investment by the Minnesota Vikings.
When the Minnesota Vikings signed Kirk Cousins in 2018, they were coming off an embarrassing loss in the NFC Championship Game. A 38-7 defeat from the Philadelphia Eagles denied the Twin Cities from playing in the Super Bowl in their own stadium. The salt rubbed deeper in the wound when Philadelphia hoisted the Lombardi Trophy just two weeks later.
Fast forward to 2020 and the Vikings have only one playoff victory to show for the hefty contract (and the subsequent extension) and are being reminded about how poorly they have operated when it comes to making investments in big-name players.
Minnesota was literally one game away from the Super Bowl with Case Keenum as their quarterback and, at that time, had what was widely considered one of the top defenses in the league.
Now, they are once again a middle-of-the-pack team (or perhaps worse) and their Week 3 loss to the Tennessee Titans confirmed that reality. For head coach Mike Zimmer and general manager Rick Spielman, it’s an unfortunate pill to swallow.
The Vikings investments have taken a turn for the worst again with Kirk Cousins.
This isn’t the first time, however, that the Vikings made an investment and mortgaged their future following an appearance in an NFC Championship Game. The cold truth of the Herschel Walker trade brings back painful memories.
In 1987, Minnesota lost to Washington in the NFC title game. Two years later, feeling they were one player away from being a Super Bowl contender, general manager Mike Lynn traded five players and six future draft choices to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for Walker, a Pro-Bowl running back.
In his first game with the Vikings — or, rather, in his first two plays — Walker went off like he was worth the heavy investment. But it was all downhill from there.
The Vikings went 10-6 that season and lost to San Francisco in the Divisional Round, eerily familiar to the 2018 team. They never reached their goal with Walker in the backfield and he was soon out the door.
Meanwhile, Dallas wound up winning three Super Bowls and establishing themselves as the team of the ’90s.
While Cousins was a signing rather than a trade, the results are somewhat reflective. The expectation was that the Vikings would be a Super Bowl contender and, although they achieved a mild taste of success last season, the record speaks for itself.
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The blame doesn’t solely fall on Cousins’ shoulders but he does have to bear the brunt of the burden. The temperature level in Minnesota is only getting lower, just like the joy of those fans as, once again, they fell for the tease.