Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell puts his trust in QB Kirk Cousins despite the team’s horrendous 0-2 start to the season

Kirk Cousins had decent games against the Buccaneers and the Eagles but wasn't able to convert that in team wins.

Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell puts his trust in QB Kirk Cousins despite the team’s horrendous 0-2 start to the season

Kirk Cousins (L) and Kevin O'Connell (R) (Via Imago)

The fans, players, and the coaching staff of the Minnesota Vikings will like to forget the start that they had in the NFL 2023-24 season. They lost back-to-back games and presently are at the bottom of the league. It is expected that in this situation, the quarterback Kirk Cousins is in the hot seat for criticism. However, in some surprising turn of events, the player got his coach Kevin O’Connell‘s back.

Despite the results in back-to-back games, O’Connell did not hesitate to praise Cousins’ efforts that he made on the pitch. He said that the way Cousins had played in two games deserves appreciation. 

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Not only that but also the HC said that he could feel a competitiveness among the players in this Vikings side. They can take on every opponent in the coming time if some mistakes are to be taken care of.

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“Although the results these first two weeks have not gone our way, I do think that there’s some encouraging things about our team right now from a standpoint of certain aspects of how we’re playing, whether it be Kirk’s performance last night, the way our pass game continues to keep us in football games, despite a lot of things that negatively affect us as far as turning the football over with the fumbling issue,” the Vikings HC said as per NBC Sports. 

O’Connell further said,”Our team’s fight to be an onside kick away from having a chance to win that game in a very, very tough place to go win on a short week. But there is, no doubt, some major, major areas of improvement from a standpoint of ball security. You just can’t be minus-6 after two games in the turnover differential.”

The team is presently having a minus-seven record in terms of turnovers. This will certainly bother the head coach and he will try to figure some solutions out quickly. 

Related:Is Damar Hamlin still playing football?

Kirk Cousins’ performance has been good in contrast to his team’s

The claims of the head coach O’Connell are not vague. They certainly hold some meat. If Cousins’ performance in two games has properly been analyzed, then one can easily see the impact he had on the pitch for a losing side. The Vikings lost two closely contested games. Against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cousins had a passing record of 33-of-44 for 344 yards. He had two touchdowns and one interception. It was a nice performance, however; the team lost by 20-17 points. 

Kirk Cousins
Kirk Cousins (Image via Sports Illustrated)

The quarterback also had a good impact against the Philadelphia Eagles. He had a 31-of-44 passing record for 364 yards, significantly better than the Eagles’ star QB Jalen Hurts. However, as a team, the Eagles performed better and grabbed the win. 

Cousin is not the problem, at least his performance in two games reveals so. The head coach has to analyze where exactly the problem lies.

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