Can Kirk Cousins Finally Snap Winless Streak on Monday Night Football?
It's not exactly a secret that Kirk Cousins has never won a game on Monday Night Football.
When the Vikings played in Seattle on MNF three weeks ago, much of the pregame discussion centered around Cousins' Monday night struggles. Then he came up short on the game's final drive, and ESPN announcers Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland immediately brought up the winless streak, despite the loss being far more on the Vikings' defense than on Cousins.
Cousins is 0-8 on Monday Night Football. That's a fact. It's one that is more a result of randomness and difficult matchups than any type of physical or psychological flaw in Cousins, but it exists nonetheless. And until it changes, it'll be something that continues to be brought up every t
The Vikings' quarterback has countless reasons why he'd love to beat the Packers on Monday night. It would keep the chances of the Vikings improving their playoff seed alive. It would be their first truly impressive win, which would be big for their confidence heading into the postseason. Privately, he presumably would take some pride and satisfaction in beating Rodgers, who was recently selected to the Pro Bowl over him for inexplicable reasons.
Getting the MNF monkey off of his back isn't high on that list, but it's on there.
“I would love to get a win, for a lot of reasons," Cousins said. "Hopefully we can get that done, but it is what it is. You can’t change the past, but we certainly have a great opportunity Monday night.”
Cousins has had bad games on Monday night. He's also played well and not been rewarded. He has a passer rating of nearly 93 in the eight losses, which isn't that far below his career number of 97.1. The last four games have come on the road, including two straight in Seattle.
It may not seem like it sometimes, but football is a team sport. The Vikings could win on Monday night despite an awful performance from Cousins, and they could lose even if he's nearly flawless.
"Kirk has done a great job for us this year," Mike Zimmer said. "He’s been outstanding, he’s played great all year long. If we get beat on Monday night, it’s not going to be because of Kirk Cousins. It’s because we didn’t win as a team. When we’ve won games this year, it hasn’t been because of Kirk, even though he’s played good, but we’ve won as a team."
"So we’re just going to stick to that mantra, that that is who we are and how we do things here. Hopefully he has a great game and hopefully we win, but it’s not all on him. We have 21 other players, and they have to go out and execute just as much as he does. But unfortunately, him and I get all the blame."
Still, a strong performance from Cousins absolutely increases the likelihood of the Vikings beating the Packers. He's at U.S. Bank Stadium, where the Vikings are 6-0 this year and where Rodgers has never won. He's playing the best football of his career right now.
There's never been a better time for Cousins' first Monday night win.
