Kirk Cousins Trade Should Save Season, Help Vikings in NFC North Race and SB Chase

Kirk Cousins Trade Should Save Season, Help Vikings in NFC North Race and SB Chase Jeff Diamond | Published : Nov 11, 2026 Follow Us Facebook Twitter Reddit WhatsApp Email Copy Link Copy Link Link Copied Desperate times call for desperate measures. That’s the predicament the Vikings were in with the NFL’s best defense and mostly excellent special teams being potentially wasted by the league’s 31 st ranked offense and passing game. The Kyler Murray experiment wasn’t working as he was a bad fit in Kevin O’Connell’s offense, which became glaringly apparent in his terrible performance at Detroit in the Vikings’ first loss of 2026. In this season’s first two weeks, Carson Wentz played well in beating Green Bay and avoided turnovers in the rainy win in Chicago. But the absolute stinker of a game he played on Monday night in the 23-6 home loss to Buffalo when he threw two picks and was wildly inaccurate removed any thought that he could be counted on to keep the Vikings in the highly competitive NFC North race much less be a threat for Super Bowl status. GM Nolan Teasley and O’Connell had no choice but to bring in a new QB who knew the Vikings offense and could be trusted to play competently and perhaps at a high level. Enter Kirk Cousins who the Vikings wisely acquired from the Raiders for a 2027 third-round pick (and this is the Vikings’ third rounder not the Eagles’ third rounder that was acquired in the Jonathan Greenard trade and should be an earlier pick with the Eagles’ lousy season ). It was perfect timing with the Raiders having dropped to 4-5 and first overall pick Fernando Mendoza reportedly looking great in practice and ready to take over despite Cousins having a very good season with 20 TD passes, eight interceptions, and ranking 11 th in passer rating while not having wide receivers near the caliber of Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. The Vikings had to do something at quarterback to unlock the offense and the frustrated Jefferson who had his best season in 2022 with Cousins as his QB (NFL Offensive Player of the Year with 128 catches, 1,809 yards, 8 TDs). It’s a crazy turn of events that brings Kirko Chainz back to town. I think it’s a great move and makes this 6-2 Vikings team a solid threat to win the NFL’s best division—the NFC North—with an unprecedented four teams all at least three games over .500. If Cousins’ transition is seamless, the team stays mostly healthy, and the defense remains elite, the Vikings can be a Super Bowl contender in a league that is wide open.  If Cousins plays well, the team can draft a QB from a talented 2027 class and Cousins can be re-signed to be the bridge QB as he was with Michael Penix in Atlanta and Mendoza in Las Vegas. I’ll take this one step further. If Cousins had joined the team two weeks ago, I believe the Vikings would be 8-0 as they head to a pivotal game this Sunday in Green Bay. On Friday, I’ll preview that rematch of Minnesota’s season opening 39-22 victory when we all thought the Murray-Wentz-J.J. McCarthy trio could work out. As often happens in the NFL, the landscape looked much different after the Monday night loss to the Bills and before the Cousins trade was made at Tuesday’s trade deadline. It feels like a new beginning for the Vikings offense if Cousins starts as expected at Lambeau Field on Sunday, about three years after he tore his Achilles there which ruined the Vikings’ 2023 season (following Cousins leading the Vikings to the division title with 13 wins in 2022). Then he was off to Atlanta and Vegas while Sam Darnold, McCarthy, Murray, and Wentz (and even Max Brosmer for two starts) took the reins with varying success and failure. A final thought on the trade deadline: I would’ve liked to see the Vikings add an offensive guard to fortify a shaky position since Donovan Jackson’s regular season-ending knee injury. A stout run-stopping defensive tackle also would help but the reality is the Vikings need better play from high draft picks Caleb Banks ( who was deactivated Monday ) and Domonique Orange. As for acquiring Jonathan Taylor to bolster the run game, the Colts were asking too much as Taylor wasn’t moved despite plenty of interested teams. I think Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones can do the job this year with a better passing attack balancing the offense. So before we dive deeper into the Border Battle renewal later this week, let’s take a look back at a forgettable Monday night loss. Setting Aside Kirk Cousins, Other Reactions After BUF Loss 1. It’s no sin to lose to the AFC’s best team (through nine weeks). But the way it went down was hard to digest, just as the loss in Detroit was with a similar turn of events. The offense couldn’t sustain drives with Wentz’s awful performance (8 of 25 for 81 yards, two third quarter picks, and 0 for 10 on third and fourth downs) which resulted in a 42 1/2 to 17 1/2 minute edge in time of possession for the Bills. For the second straight game, the defense put up a great fight and held one of the top two scoring teams to 10 points under their season average but the offense could only contribute six points and 178 total yards while turning it over three times (all by Wentz). On Buffalo’s first six drives, the defense held likely league MVP Josh Allen and the Bills prolific offense that ranked first in scoring and second in total offense to only 63 yards, a terrific interception by Byron Murphy, and three points (off the too high Wentz backwards pass/lateral—that Jefferson probably should have caught–recovered by the Bills). 2. O’Connell admitted he should have called more runs which was certainly the case when Wentz was so inaccurate and Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones had a combined 51 rushing yards on only 12 carries (4.3 yard average). That would’ve helped the time of possession problem. The most glaring mistake in not running enough came midway through the third quarter with the Vikings trailing 13-6 and Mason ran three straight times for 8, 11 and 5 yards to put the Vikings at the Buffalo 47. On the next play, Wentz tried to force it to Jefferson and he made an awful throw that was an easy pick for LB Terrel Bernard. 3. There were two replay decisions that could have changed the game if they went the Vikings way. In the second quarter, Andrew Van Ginkel sacked Allen at the Buffalo 1 and appeared to force a fumble Van Ginkel recovered but replay ruled Allen’s shin hit the ground while he had possession of the ball. I thought the ball was slightly moving before he hit the ground. Instead of first and goal at the 1 for the Vikings, the Bills punted and the offense took possession at the Buffalo 34 but couldn’t move the ball so Will Reichard’s field goal tied the game 3-3. Then in the fourth quarter with the Bills still leading 13-6, Allen was ruled on the field to be stopped on a 4th and 1 QB sneak but replay gave him the first down (and I thought it was very questionable to overturn the on-field call). James Cook scored the clinching TD on the tiring defense six plays later. Speaking of Cook, the Vikings did a good job in containing last season’s league-leading rusher. It took 31 carries for him to gain 107 yards (3.5 yard average, well below his season average of 5.1 entering the game). 4. Another potential game altering play was the underthrown deep ball from Wentz to Jefferson with 5:47 left in a two-score game. Wentz was pressured on the play but Jefferson beat his defender and would have scored with a better thrown pass. Jefferson had to dive for the ball and dropped it (as a top receiver, he should’ve caught it). One play later on fourth down, Wentz again threw an inaccurate pass to Jefferson that basically ended the Vikings’ chances. Jefferson was targeted 11 times (his first game with 10+ targets) but only had three receptions for 58 yards due to Wentz’s erratic play and the drop on the deep ball. Jordan Addison had only two receptions for 28 yards on three targets. The Vikings hope Cousins