Minnesota Vikings’ biggest problem is not Kirk Cousins

Kirk Cousins is an easy target for blame, but he is not the biggest problem for the Minnesota Vikings.

With a 52-33 loss to the New Orleans Saints on Christmas Day, the Minnesota Vikings fell to 6-9 and were officially eliminated from playoff contention. Kirk Cousins has been the quarterback for three seasons, and they’ll miss the playoffs twice.

Coming off an NFC title game appearance and giving him a fully guaranteed three-year, $84 million contract, this is not what the Vikings envisioned with Cousins as their quarterback. But they had to know what they were getting, an above-average quarterback that can’t fully elevate the situation around him.

But rather than let Cousins play out the final year of his deal in 2020, Vikings gave him a two-year extension worth $66 million. It would be difficult (but not impossible) to move off of Cousins in the offseason. A trade is the path there, if the Vikings wanted to entertain it and could find a suitor. Even then, they’d probably be taking on another team’s quarterback problem in exchange (Carson Wentz, Jimmy Garoppolo).

Mike Zimmer is the Vikings biggest problem

Now almost through seven seasons, Mike Zimmer has a 63-47-1 regular season record with a 2-3 playoff mark as Vikings’ head coach. Both of those wins have come against the Saints in last-minute fashion, but  if Blair Walsh had made a short kick in artic weather that would have been another playoff win. If the Vikings win in Week 17 against the Detroit Lions, Zimmer will have at least seven wins in all seven of his seasons.

During big chunks of his tenure, Zimmer has gone through offensive coordinators and kickers like most people go through underwear. He has openly professed wanting to run the ball, behind a strong defense and a coordinator that conflicts with that desire (Norv Turner, John DeFilippo) has  been gone (right or wrong).

The Vikings entered this season with a group of young cornerbacks who got no offseason work as they typically would in any other year. Jeff Gladney and Cameron Dantzler look like keepers, but other than it’s been pretty ugly. Injuries and opt-outs thinned the talent ranks across the board defensively, but the Vikings are not the only team that happened to this year.

On Friday the Saints, headlined by Alvin Kamara’s six touchdowns, put up 583 yards of offense on the Vikings’ defense. It was an across-the-board failure for Zimmer’s baby.

Zimmer is a purveyor of antiquated thinking, which he makes sure an offensive coordinator follows or risk public wrath. A defense that has had an erosion of talent alongside Cousins’ time as the quarterback. It’s easy to say Cousins is the Vikings’ biggest problem, and he shouldn’t avoid blame or criticism. But the team’s biggest problem resides elsewhere.

A lot of shortcomings were masked by the Vikings’ rally from 1-5 to 6-6. Chief among those whose shortcomings were covered up is the head coach. I’m not calling for Mike Zimmer to be fired, though it wouldn’t take a big push to get me there.

Zimmer trying to be like his mentor Bill Parcells, with philosophies that at least need doses of something special attached (talent and/or coaching) to work in 2020. The ceiling for the Vikings is capped for as long as Zimmer is the head coach.