It wasn't all about Cousins the player, although in the biggest spot as a Viking he checked down on 4th and 8, but his contract. He was massively over paid and we could never really doing anything in free agency and had no depth. So so glad his contract is gone and we can build a team again! Great show guys!
spot on! Kirk the player was really good and very accurate but the contract hampered the franchise from improving in FA and relying on hitting every draft pick. The possibilities this opens up are endless! 2025 should be bright for the Vikes
@@theonlyplaybook2642 He was never one of the highest paid players though. And how do teams that are paying their quarterbacks WAY more money than Kirk (before this last contract) remaining competitive?? Teams like the Bengals, Chiefs, Bills and Eagles. That's a lame to blame it on Kirk's contract. As far as the draft goes.....seems like other teams draft pretty well. The Vikings have not. That's how you build your team, on cheap rookie deals.
@@theonlyplaybook2642 And you are just gonna completely ignore how bad the Vikings' has been for most of Kirk's time here? Not even Mahomes is gonna win games with a bad / subpar defense (Super Bowl LV and the the 2018 AFC championship game) And what about Zimmer? Let's just ignore that as well like that had no bearing on the wins and losses. In case you forgot.....Instead of the defense staying elite, it got worse every year and dropped to 13th to 18th to 27th to 30th. Add in Zimmer’s coaching. His job as head coach was to get the most out of his quarterback. Instead, he undercut his play in coaching meetings and didn’t build around him. He fired his OC every year, he had terrible clock management, had conservative and predictable play calling (run, run, run, pass), was 32nd out of 32 teams in situational football, and had an outdated and prevent style defense that gave up more points in the final 2 minutes of each half than any team in history. He thought the best way to win was by building hard-hitting and punishing defenses that can shut opponents down. That failed miserably. But yeah....blame the quarterback in the ultimate team game. The Kirk bashing by the media and fans is ridiculous. Like everything is Kirk's fault. He did his job (or tried to anyway ) and the Vikings failed him. Do better.
How was Kirk overpaid? He was the 15th highest paid for several years) Players aren’t paid based on wins because it’s a team sport. Kirk did his part....the defense did not. And how do other teams pay their quarterbacks WAY more than Kirk (before his new contract) and are still competitive?? You build your team through the draft which the Vikings have not done consistently well. That last playoff game shouldn’t have come down to 4th and 8. The Vikings lost because of their defense (they allowed 31 points and 431 yards to a Giants team that was far from explosive and made Daniel Jones look like an All Pro quarterback). It was a bad play call plain and simple. All the receivers but Hockenson had deep routes that were too long in developing and the left guard did not stop the defensive tackle AT ALL. Kirk had no time to throw and was about to be sacked. The Minnesota Vikings failed Kirk, plain and simple. #1 By neglecting the o-line (for years) for the team's pocket passer, #2 having one of the worst defenses in the league for most of his time there, #3 incompetent coaching by Zimmer who instead of helping his quarterback and meeting with him weekly, #4 openly disliked him, #5 trashed him in meetings, #6 fired his OC every year AND #7 didn’t surround him with talent to consistently win (like every other successful team does for their quarterback). Ah…what could have been. Now we will never know. Until the Vikings realize that long term continuity at the QB position (for more than six seasons) is the key to success, they will never win a Super Bowl.
It's easy to see that you guys are in the group of Kirk haters. You gave Kirk credit for top 6ish quarterback play before the injury in 2023. In reality he was the run away MVP during the first half in 2023. He does not play defense. You claim that the defense was good in 2020 which it was not. The Vikings are the only team in the league to have a bottom 5 offensive line from 2018-2022. The defense was very good in 2018 but so was Kirk. Kirk stayed very good, Hall of Fame good, for his 6 years here but the defense sank like a stone. How can it be tough to rank Cousins among all time Vikings quarterbacks. He is second with a lot of distance to #3. In the most comprehensive analysis ever created to evaluate a quarterbacks career Cousins comes out as the 20th best quarterback to play 9 or more years since 1947. Let's see what happens this year. The Vikings should have a much better defense in 2024 but the Falcons will have a much better season.
It wasn't all about Cousins the player, although in the biggest spot as a Viking he checked down on 4th and 8, but his contract. He was massively over paid and we could never really doing anything in free agency and had no depth. So so glad his contract is gone and we can build a team again!
Great show guys!
spot on! Kirk the player was really good and very accurate but the contract hampered the franchise from improving in FA and relying on hitting every draft pick. The possibilities this opens up are endless! 2025 should be bright for the Vikes
@@theonlyplaybook2642 He was never one of the highest paid players though. And how do teams that are paying their quarterbacks WAY more money than Kirk (before this last contract) remaining competitive?? Teams like the Bengals, Chiefs, Bills and Eagles. That's a lame to blame it on Kirk's contract.
As far as the draft goes.....seems like other teams draft pretty well. The Vikings have not. That's how you build your team, on cheap rookie deals.
@@theonlyplaybook2642 And you are just gonna completely ignore how bad the Vikings' has been for most of Kirk's time here? Not even Mahomes is gonna win games with a bad / subpar defense (Super Bowl LV and the the 2018 AFC championship game)
And what about Zimmer? Let's just ignore that as well like that had no bearing on the wins and losses. In case you forgot.....Instead of the defense staying elite, it got worse every year and dropped to 13th to 18th to 27th to 30th.
Add in Zimmer’s coaching. His job as head coach was to get the most out of his quarterback. Instead, he undercut his play in coaching meetings and didn’t build around him. He fired his OC every year, he had terrible clock management, had conservative and predictable play calling (run, run, run, pass), was 32nd out of 32 teams in situational football, and had an outdated and prevent style defense that gave up more points in the final 2 minutes of each half than any team in history. He thought the best way to win was by building hard-hitting and punishing defenses that can shut opponents down. That failed miserably.
But yeah....blame the quarterback in the ultimate team game. The Kirk bashing by the media and fans is ridiculous. Like everything is Kirk's fault. He did his job (or tried to anyway ) and the Vikings failed him. Do better.
How was Kirk overpaid? He was the 15th highest paid for several years) Players aren’t paid based on wins because it’s a team sport. Kirk did his part....the defense did not. And how do other teams pay their quarterbacks WAY more than Kirk (before his new contract) and are still competitive??
You build your team through the draft which the Vikings have not done consistently well.
That last playoff game shouldn’t have come down to 4th and 8. The Vikings lost because of their defense (they allowed 31 points and 431 yards to a Giants team that was far from explosive and made Daniel Jones look like an All Pro quarterback). It was a bad play call plain and simple. All the receivers but Hockenson had deep routes that were too long in developing and the left guard did not stop the defensive tackle AT ALL. Kirk had no time to throw and was about to be sacked.
The Minnesota Vikings failed Kirk, plain and simple. #1 By neglecting the o-line (for years) for the team's pocket passer, #2 having one of the worst defenses in the league for most of his time there, #3 incompetent coaching by Zimmer who instead of helping his quarterback and meeting with him weekly, #4 openly disliked him, #5 trashed him in meetings, #6 fired his OC every year AND #7 didn’t surround him with talent to consistently win (like every other successful team does for their quarterback). Ah…what could have been. Now we will never know. Until the Vikings realize that long term continuity at the QB position (for more than six seasons) is the key to success, they will never win a Super Bowl.
@@Paula-mv8im good thing none if this matters now and we can move forward!
Great episode 🔥
It's easy to see that you guys are in the group of Kirk haters. You gave Kirk credit for top 6ish quarterback play before the injury in 2023. In reality he was the run away MVP during the first half in 2023. He does not play defense. You claim that the defense was good in 2020 which it was not. The Vikings are the only team in the league to have a bottom 5 offensive line from 2018-2022. The defense was very good in 2018 but so was Kirk. Kirk stayed very good, Hall of Fame good, for his 6 years here but the defense sank like a stone. How can it be tough to rank Cousins among all time Vikings quarterbacks. He is second with a lot of distance to #3. In the most comprehensive analysis ever created to evaluate a quarterbacks career Cousins comes out as the 20th best quarterback to play 9 or more years since 1947. Let's see what happens this year. The Vikings should have a much better defense in 2024 but the Falcons will have a much better season.
Vikings tried to re-sign Kirk