The Vikings are 5-3-1 coming off their Week 10 bye and heading into a Week 11 Sunday night matchup against the Bears. Although Minnesota won't match its 13-3 mark as NFC runner-up last season, the team is primed to strengthen its status for the conference playoffs.
There's no doubt the Vikings have plenty of confidence to do just that despite a tough closing schedule — powered by their cool and comfortable new leader.
"We're certainly in position to do everything we wanted to do at the start of the season," Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins told Sporting News. "It all comes down to winning your division and getting a home playoff game. We've still got that chance and we feel good about that aspect.
"With these two division games back to back, there's a lot riding on them for the future."
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The Vikings have a brutal month ahead that will end up defining Cousins' first season in Minnesota, which so far has been his career-best year at age 30. After traveling this week to face Chicago (6-3), which leads the NFC North by a half-game, the Vikings will host third-place Green Bay (4-4-1) before two more tough road games in New England and Seattle.
Cousins faced plenty of division intensity while with the Redskins, including leading them to the NFC East title in 2015. It's a little different with the Vikings, as life in the North is a throwback to the black-and-blue, upper-Midwest, cold-weather feel of Cousins' Big Ten conference days.
"There are similarities," Cousins admitted. "At Michigan State, coach Mark D'Antonio would emphasize, 'November is for contenders and October is for pretenders,' implying that to really be in the hunt for the Big Ten title, you have to win your November games when the real teams start playing for something.
"In the NFL, it's more mid-November and December. That's when the picture starts to clarify and storyline carries more weight. I've had that experience in college and we understand that now."
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Cousins, despite below-average pass protection, leads the NFL with 259 completed passes at 71.8 percent. With 17 TDs to only five interceptions, on pace for a career low, he is having his most efficient season with a 102.2 passer rating.
In his limited past as an NFL starter, Cousins has dominated with big numbers in November only to fade in December. He has played into January only once; he was out-dueled by the Packers' Aaron Rodgers in a home playoff loss.
But Cousins has never has had a team this good around him this late in a season. His key go-to guys, Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs, have proved to be tough wide receivers, both in bad weather and in the division, with their big-play history in the final months. A much-maligned offensive line has found some pop and continuity since second-year center Pat Elflein and rookie right tackle Brian O'Neill have gotten into the lineup.
There was a lot on Cousins in the first half of the season as the team rushed for an average of fewer than 66 yards per game during a 2-2-1 start. Over the past four games, the Vikings have averaged 124 rushing yards. With feature back Dalvin Cook missing five games with a hamstring injury, it took a while for fill-in Latavius Murray and the run-blocking to get in a groove, but it set up Cook to explode for 89 yards on only 10 attempts in his fully healthy return vs. Detroit in Week 10.
While Murray is one of the league's top power backups, Cook restores much-needed explosiveness and versatility to the backfield. He is also the missing underneath receiving threat who will allow the team to take better advantage of the attention Diggs and Thielen draw downfield. Cousins is thrilled to have that trio together at its best for the first time since Week 1.
"He's a complete back with great movement skills," Cousins said of Cook. "As a result, he's going to be a dynamic player for us every way we can get him the football. When he's on the field, he's one of our best players. Hopefully he'll be healthy for the second half of the season because, he's got all the ability to really be a game-changer."
The Vikings have improved in scoring offense from last season to 24.6 points per game, a number Cook can help push higher. That's a good trend as the defense over the past month is back to shutting down both run and pass. It's also getting both the sacks and takeaways that helped it become the No. 1 scoring unit in 2017.
In Washington, Cousins was called upon to often save the day with little else working around him, and it led to turnover-filled games against superior opponents. In Minnesota, the interceptions have not been an issue. The burden on Cousins is bound to decrease in the coming weeks, which will make his efficient play stand out even more.
The Vikings spent a fortune on Cousins to be the clean finishing piece, not the savior. Simply protecting the ball and playing smart with plenty of play-action shots off the running game will position Minnesota to win all of its remaining games.
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Cousins finally has a team around him capable of changing the negative narrative surrounding his play in big games against QBs like Rodgers, the Bears' Mitchell Trubisky and the Patriots' Tom Brady. And really, Cousins already has proved himself this season with less help against the Rams' Jared Goff, the Eagles' Carson Wentz and Saints' Drew Brees.
The Vikings went 1-2 in those three games against fellow NFC first-place teams from last season. As tough as what's in front of them sounds, they are capable of playing the complementary football necessary to go on a roll toward the NFC playoffs.
Cousins spoke to Sporting News as part of a team-up with his go-to candy: Skittles. With the Vikings' Week 10 bye coming on the heels of Halloween, he enjoyed the break with a few extra tastes of the rainbow, but now he's rested up and ready to take his appropriate purple team toward new heights. "Grape is my favorite flavor and I've come to learn that purple is a great color on me and my family," Cousins said. "I've also learned that it is the color of royalty, which is a great thing to know. It's all about grape going forward."
