Next OC for the Vikings?

[StumpHunter]

You need impact players on the defensive line no doubt, but that isn't his take. His take is that you need to have the best pass rush to win it all, when that frequently has not been the case. In fact, half of the SB winners have been bottom 5 pass rush teams over the past 4 seasons.

Interesting, because Wilson has literally never won fewer than 9 games, and has only won 9 games once. But you are saying he would win 8 if he was on the Vikings? That is statistically improbable.

How many wins would we miss out on if we didn't have Gladney next season?


You give up "much more" and you are you taking two steps back and taking 1 giant leap into SB contention.


Cousins isn't 10% worse than Wilson or Rodgers. Maybe against the worst defenses in the NFL he is, but against top 10 pass defenses he 0-11 as a QB for the Vikings and the offense has averaged scoring 15 points in those games. Wilson is 4-5 in 2018 and 2019, with his offenses averaging 22 points, and Rodgers is 7-5-1 averaging 20 points. That is why Wilson and Rodgers are consistently in the playoffs while Cousins is consistently .500.

Brady proves the difference between what a great QB can do and what a lesser QB who puts up big numbers can do.


When saddled with a QB who gives you a significant disadvantage in the playoffs compared to most other teams in the playoffs, yes, you absolutely need to make the rest of the team that much better. The problem is that the QB's contract makes getting that team to the point where you are so much better at every position that it doesn't matter you are at a disadvantage at most important one almost impossible.

At the end of the day a Super Bowl can be or will be won in many different ways. Trent Dilfer is a Super Bowl winning QB. So you can win a Super Bowl with a less than average QB. I would not recommend going into the season with a QB like that because your chances lesson dramatically. Maybe it has already happened but someday the worst defense in the NFL will win a Super Bowl. Again I wouldn't recommend trying it that way. Marino and Fouts are the best example of that. I never thought a 43 year old QB could win a Super Bowl. This wasn't a one game fill in either. Eventually a 50 year old QB will win one. IMO you better be able to play decent defense. I prefer a D that puts tremendous pressure on the opposing QB which means sacks. You better have a QB that can play at a decent level. Our team wasted our two best defenses in our history 70 and 71 because we had less than zero at QB. It also helps if your in a division that is weak. Currently the NFC east is weak. I'd rather be there than were we are. It gives you a better chance of making the playoffs and getting home field. Our team faces the same problem that all teams have with a QB that takes up much CAP space. Prescott for Dallas is the highest paid player. The guy threw 30 TDs once. They play in a weak division. The Super Bowl should be a given. But it won't be. IMO the best way to get to the Super Bowl is to be red hot when you hit the playoffs. If your not hot say bye bye.

The NFL has become an offense driven league and while an elite defense with a below average offense can certainly win it all, it is not the norm. Those teams also tend to have very small windows to win it all and if everything doesn't go right, like the 2018 Bears missing a game winning FG, they rarely are able to repeat the defensive success the following year.

If you have a great QB and in turn a great offense, that window is much larger. You get 4, 5, 6, 10 chances to have everything go right and win it all. That is why when one or possibly even two become available like they have this season, you should do whatever you can to open up that 5-10 year window. Get that QB who the consensus around the league feel is a top 5 QB going into his 5th season. Get that QB who has never missed the playoffs in his entire career and who has proven he can win it all.

It is the single move that gives you the best chance to win a SB and I don't understand why anyone wouldn't want to take that chance at getting that piece that almost every SB winning team has had.

[J. Kapp 11]

This is what happens when you have a quarterback with shiny stats but whose won-loss record has about as much shimmer as a turd.

Like the guy for the Texans.

You mean the guy who has won two division titles in four years in the league, compared to Cousins' zero division titles in 9 years?

Or the guy who has played in the same number of playoff games as Cousins in less than half the time in the league?

[VikingLord]

When saddled with a QB who gives you a significant disadvantage in the playoffs compared to most other teams in the playoffs, yes, you absolutely need to make the rest of the team that much better. The problem is that the QB's contract makes getting that team to the point where you are so much better at every position that it doesn't matter you are at a disadvantage at most important one almost impossible.

You make it seem like Cousins is the main reason the Vikings can't get to or win in the playoffs. Granted, Cousins struggled against the 49ers, but he was far from the only member of that team that struggled in that game.

Further, just the week before it was Cousins deep throw to Thielen that basically won the game against the Saints.

While I respect your views and you often have good takes, what you do with Cousins is draw a line from the results against better defenses/teams directly back to him, as if you can easily separate his contribution to the results you use to justify your arguments that he is someone the Vikings are "saddled with".

What about the coaches? What about Dalvin Cook? I know you love him. Why doesn't he get blame for failing to overcome against the better defenses? Maybe he's also a guy who pumps up his stats against weaker competition then?

Cousins is not nearly the liability you paint him out to be.

That doesn't mean he's the best QB in the league or he doesn't have his flaws, but neither is he the sole explanation for the team's consistent failure to win against better teams and defenses.

His contract is not outrageous in absolute terms. If you think he's not that good to deserve to be paid like the best QBs in the league, sure, it's outrageous and a serious hindrance to the team's ability to improve, but not everybody agrees with that premise.

[CharVike]

Like the guy for the Texans.

You mean the guy who has won two division titles in four years in the league, compared to Cousins' zero division titles in 9 years?

Or the guy who has played in the same number of playoff games as Cousins in less than half the time in the league?

Yes and I'm not knocking him either. But the NFL is a now business not x number of years ago. 4 wins last year. As an example Newton was in a Super Bowl years ago who cares. It means nothing now. There was problems in Houston but that's part of the challenge to overcome. Yes a great career. We won't win the division this year either unless Rodgers goes down or we improve our defense big time. But your not doing that in one off season. Our O was ranked number 4. We need to win at least 13 games to win our division at least that's my view and is probably the over under mid point. It's hard to win that many games. Some divisions it's less. We won the division with Keenum and he blows. No Rodgers helped a little.