Dane Mizutani: Vikings’ Kirk Cousins proves once again he’s not good enough

Poor Kirk Cousins. He couldn’t even pad his stats in garbage time this week.

While he’s made a career of doing that — not to mention a boatload of money — Cousins had to take his medicine as the Vikings suffered a 28-11 loss to Colts in Indianapolis.

He completed 11 of 26 pass attempts for 113 yards and no touchdowns. He also tossed three interceptions, and limped to the locker room, figuratively, not literally, with a career-low 15.9 passer rating. That was actually an improvement considering he had a 0.0 passer rating at one point in the game.

“Not a sharp day,” Cousins said. “We just have to get back to work now, watch the tape, correct mistakes, and have a major sense of urgency about the way we work this week.”

Not surprisingly, Cousins dodged nearly every question about his own personal performance, repeating that he needed to watch the film before he could properly assess himself.

Asked about struggling so mightily after the opening drive, Cousins responded, “It’s probably a combination of things, and we will have to go back and watch the tape to be able to give a better answer.”

Asked about being stuck in neutral for most of the game, Cousins responded, “After watching the tape tonight and tomorrow, probably have a better understanding of all the pieces that we can improve upon.”

Asked about finishing with the lowest pass rating of his career, Cousins said, “It wasn’t the day we wanted and we will have to go back and really learn from it.”

If only he could dodge pressure in the pocket so cavalierly.

How about some accountability from the franchise quarterback? Everything was about the team. Nothing was about himself.

In fact, it took him more than a half-dozen questions throw his way to even acknowledge his own personal failures, and even then he did so halfheartedly at best.

“Just need to watch the film and really get a better understanding of how we can be better as a unit and how I can be better as a quarterback,” Cousins said. “That will be my focus tonight, tomorrow, and moving through the week.”

This is who Kirk Cousins is. He talks a big game until it’s time to talk about his actual game.

While it wasn’t fair to blame the Week 1 loss on him considering the defense was atrocious, it’s completely fair to blame the Week 2 loss on him. He did nothing to keep the Vikings in the game when they needed it.

He took a costly safety for the second straight week, then followed that up with a pair of interceptions before halftime. He failed to lead a touchdown drive until the game was completely out of reach. And finally, he tried to explain away the performance when it was all said and done.

It was the Kirk Cousins Trifecta, and that’s something the Vikings should probably get used to with the way this season is trending.

“Not winning is always disappointing,” Cousins said. “It’s all about winning. We have to find ways to win these games.”

How does he plan to rally his team this week?

“You just go right back to work,” Cousins said. “Just keep a laser-like focus and make sure we have a great week of preparation.”

Talk about inspiring.

This is bad team right now, and Cousins is a big reason why. Even if he won’t say so himself.