What Went Wrong for Kirk Cousins, Vikings on the Decisive Fourth Down Play
Blame for the Vikings' 31-24 loss to the Giants in the first round of the playoffs doesn't fall solely — or even primarily — on Kirk Cousins' shoulders. The defense, which allowed 431 yards and gave up five scoring drives, was the bigger issue, putting all kinds of pressure on the offense to be nearly flawless in order to keep pace on the scoreboard.
But Cousins had a chance at the end. The Vikings had the ball near midfield, down seven, in the final minutes. As was the case all season, it was going to come down to a couple critical plays in crunch time. On third and 8, Cousins threw just behind K.J. Osborn, who couldn't come down with the ball.
That's "the one that I want back," Cousins said. "I felt like, you get man coverage, the ball needs to be a little more out front of K.J. It was right on him, in the sense that the DB was able to break it up. I felt like if the ball was out front, the DB can’t do that in man coverage. That’s really the play that I want back is the third and 8."
The third and 8 isn't the play that will be talked about for a long time, though. On the following play, with the season on the line, Cousins checked it down to T.J. Hockenson in the flat and Xavier McKinney quickly tackled him to end the game.
The Vikings needed eight yards and Cousins threw a three-yard pass. That's the one that's going to stick with people. And because of the nature of the sport and the position he plays, Cousins is going to get the lion's share of the criticism for this loss because of that game-deciding play in the biggest moment.
"Just a shell read there, saw single-high, tried to work Justin, didn’t feel good about putting it up to Justin, and then when I went to progress, I just felt like I was about to get sacked," Cousins said. "I felt like I gotta put the ball in play. I can’t go down with a sack, so I just thought I’d kick it out to T.J."
The Vikings were trying to push the ball downfield, head coach and play caller Kevin O'Connell said after the game. Wide receivers Justin Jefferson, K.J. Osborn, and Adam Thielen all ran vertical routes past the line to gain. But none of them got open enough for Cousins to feel good about letting it rip as he quickly went through his progressions. Then, with Giants star defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence bearing down on him, Cousins felt like he had to at least get rid of the ball to someone instead of taking a sack.
"I had thrown short of the sticks on a few occasions in the game and even going back a few weeks and just felt like throwing short of the sticks isn’t the end of the world," Cousins said. "It was obviously tight coverage, so didn’t have the chance to pull away. I just felt like I was going to go down and take a sack if I didn’t put it out."
Obviously, Hockenson wasn't the first read on that play — and it's fair to question why he was running a three-yard route at all. But most plays have short outlets that the quarterback can get to if he's under pressure and needs to get the ball out. If Hockenson wasn't closely covered on that play or breaks a tackle and picks up the first down, who knows what happens?
"As a play caller, you’re not going to call a primary concept where somebody’s short of the sticks to gain, especially on fourth down," O'Connell said. "If it’s third down and you can catch, convert, make it a fourth and 2 or 3, that’s OK. But yeah, looking back on it, I maybe could’ve just been a little bit more, ‘Hey, this is kind of where you want the ball to go,’ but I want Kirk to be able to play. I want him to be free out there to make good decisions.
"Just trying to get some eligibles vertical, and ended up going underneath and we didn’t — like we had done multiple times, T.J. underneath the coverage for catch conversions, they just were able to make a play. But the intent was to try to continue having a chance to win the football game with pushing the ball downfield. Just didn’t open up for Kirk and that’s on me."
More than once, O'Connell put the blame for that play on himself instead of his quarterback. It's an admirable thing to do as a leader, and something O'Connell did numerous times this season, dating back to the Vikings' first loss in Philadelphia in Week 2.
"(Kirk played well) all night long, moved our team, stood in there, getting the ball out of his hand in rhythm," O'Connell said. "It just so happened that (on) that down, we just didn’t get enough on the play. In the end, I look at that as it’s as much — if anything, it’s on me and that play call. Even though we had eligibles with a chance down the field, there’s always a play that could be better for your guys out there. That one will stick with me."
The reality is that even if the call wasn't perfect, Cousins can't make that decision in that moment. Even with Lawrence getting pressure up the middle, Cousins had to give himself and his team a chance. He had just enough time to throw the ball past the sticks to any of Jefferson, Osborn, or Thielen. In that moment, it would've taken a great throw and an even better catch to get a conversion. But throwing it up to one of his receivers would at least have created the possibility of a spectacular play to extend the game.
It's especially hard to believe when one of those potential targets is Jefferson, the NFL's leading receiver and a player with a very strong argument as the best in the world at his position. He made plenty of incredible contested catches all season, including a now-famous one-handed snag on a fourth down in Buffalo that kept that game alive. Yes, Jefferson was double-teamed. But he's also Justin Jefferson. Cousins saying he "didn’t feel good about putting it up to Justin" is quite the interesting quote, with or without context.
Hockenson had a huge day, finishing with ten catches for 129 yards, and the attention the Giants paid to Jefferson played a big role in that. Still, one imagines the Vikings wish they found more ways to get Jefferson going in Sunday's game. He had seven catches for 47 yards, with no receptions of more than ten yards. He had just one catch for four yards in the second half. After recording ten 100-yard performances in the Vikings' first 15 games, Jefferson had 12 catches for a total of 100 yards in the final three games of the season, this one included.
Even if Cousins didn't want to target a double-covered Jefferson there, how about giving Osborn another chance against single coverage over the middle? Or lofting one up to the left side of the field to Thielen, who was excellent at contested catches in his prime years?
You can't take a sack in that situation. But you also can't check it down to a covered player and not even give yourself a chance.
"There was always belief (that we'd win the game)," Cousins said. "At halftime or even when we were down 17-7 and then clawed our way back, I think there was always belief, and I think that’s why it hurts, because you expect to find a way. Especially the way this team has gone all year, we expect to find a way."
"You don’t sleep," he said, when asked what he'd do on Sunday night. "(You) go over the plays in your mind over and over and over and over."
"It hurts," he added. "This is probably the toughest loss I’ve had in my career."
Cousins played well for almost the entire game on Sunday. He was decisive. He was accurate. He stood strong in the pocket under pressure, typically from Lawrence coming through the interior.
Throughout a 13-win regular season, Cousins came up clutch for the Vikings in the big moments time and time again. This time, with a chance to go tie the game, he didn't get it done. He threw short of the sticks on fourth and 8.
It might not be fair, but that's what people are going to remember from this loss.
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