Mike Zimmer blamed Kirk Cousins for Minnesota Vikings’ slow start

 During a 24-27 overtime loss to the Bengals, Minnesota Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer had some criticism for his quarterback Kirk Cousins.

The Minnesota Vikings went into the locker room at halftime down 14-7 to a Cincinnati Bengals team that was power ranked seven spots below them.

Most fans watching the game might blame the disappointing score on their offensive line racking up nine penalties or a defense that seemed to run out of gas and give up 14 points in the last two minutes of the half. Zimmer had other ideas.

Mike Zimmer told reporter Jen Hale that the Minnesota Vikings offensive struggles came down to Kirk Cousins.

Zimmer is known for being blunt, and he didn’t told back during a halftime interview.

https://twitter.com/SKORNorth/status/1437131488668094464

Ouch. The relationship between Cousins and Zimmer has been publicly tense for weeks. Most recently, Zimmer took shots at his quarterback for having a lot of opinions in reference to his vaccination status.

It is clear these two aren’t on the same page, and Cousins’ Sunday afternoon performance didn’t seem to impress Zimmer enough to improve that.

We all know Zimmer is biased towards his defense, but was Cousins really to blame for the poor play? By the end of the game Cousins had thrown for 351 yards, two touchdowns, and a 73.5 completion percentage.

Meanwhile, starting cornerback Bashaud Breeland was repeatedly torched by rookie receiver Ja’Marr Chase, a heavily penalized offensive line allowed three sacks on Cousins, and Dalvin Cook’s questionable fumble turned the ball over to Cincinnati at a critical point in OT.

With a tough test ahead against the Arizona Cardinals and Chandler Jones, Zimmer might want to focus a little more on supporting Cousins through the offensive line and a little less on criticizing him to the media if he wants to start the season 1-1.