Brian Murphy: The Vikings are six and what?
Kirk Cousins scrambled out of a doomsday pocket and tap danced the Arizona 20-yard line like a quarterback on the verge of … something.
It was Minnesota’s opening drive Sunday against an enigmatic Cardinals team, and Cousins had already run for a pair of chain-moving conversions. But keeping it and rumbling in the red zone?
Someone better unhitch the yoke.
Cousins shed his as a pair of downhill defenders stalked him toward the sideline. Nimble No. 8 cut to the pylon, easily gaining a first down before the knee-high, white-socked, latter-day John Elway dove for a touchdown that earned him some more street cred within the locker room and fan base.
Just another in a series of bigtime plays by the surging Vikings in their 34-26 whiplash victory over the self-destructive Cardinals at U.S. Bank Stadium.
If Cousins raced Arizona afterburner Kyler Murray 10 times, he would lose 10 times. But here he was using his legs to punctuate another opening drive to six points – one of five red-zone touchdowns in as many opportunities on the day.
“Everybody underestimates how fast he is,” said running back Dalvin Cook. “It’s like a video game.”
A Pong reference. Well-played, Dalvin.
Wide receiver Adam Thielen thinks Cousins was motivated during an offensive meeting by a highlight clip showing him scrambling for a chunk play in a previous clash against the Cardinals.
“They showed that run, so I think it was kind of giving him a little confidence getting out and running,” he said. “I didn’t know what he hit speed-wise, but it was pretty good.”
One online odometer clocked Cousins at zipper-merge mph, with comparable stress.
“He was trying to steal a first down and found himself in the end zone,” marveled coach Kevin O’Connell.
Apparently, center Garrett Bradbury and the offensive line treated Cousins’ snowshoe scamper like a Usain Bolt Olympic dash.
“Garrett said it was the greatest thing he has ever seen, which I thought was a bit of hyperbole, maybe not,” Cousins said.
We all know there’s no hyperbole in the NFL. Carry on, Kirk.
“They were right there in the end zone, just their reaction. They were for some reason really happy, really proud of it.”
Tell Linda Richman, I’m feeling verklempt, too.
Cousins accounted for three touchdowns, including passes to K.J. Osborn and Johnny Mundt, as the Vikings did that voodoo that they do so well.
Lead. Lurch. Nap. Mainline adrenaline.
A 14-3 lead became a 3-point deficit midway through the third quarter, which typically is nighty night time for Minnesota.
Only the Vikings responded with three more touchdowns and a host of devastating defensive plays to exact yet another Socratic victory worth celebrating and gazing at in awe.
O’Connell, for his part, speaks fluent Kumbaya.
“The feeling you get on our sideline, in our locker room, no matter what the circumstances are, I do feel like these guys believe in each other, they believe in what we’re doing, and, ultimately, they believe that we’re one play away from being where we want to be maybe if the momentum isn’t on our side,” O’Connell said, rattling his love beads.
“That’s a proud feeling for a coach. When you know these guys are feeling, that you know you have a chance to overcome a lot of the adversity that’s out in front of us to get to where we want to get to.”
The Vikings’ last five wins have come by an average margin of 6 points. In 2021, they lost eight games by 8 points or less.
“How are we suddenly finding the inches?” posed Cousins. “Why we found them now, I don’t know. But we have been finding them.”
Essentially, the Vikings are 6 and WTF? Their fifth straight win tightened their vise grip on the NFC North as the Packers sink like an anvil next to perennial bottom-feeders Chicago and Detroit.
The streak has them nipping at the conference heels of undefeated Philadelphia.
They are obviously flawed, potently productive, entertainingly relevant and resilient as hell.
Dare we say, destined?
Oh, calm down. There are still miles of broken glass to travel, I get it. But it’s 70 degrees practically every day and it’s almost November.
Sprinkle around the house money. Lean into the positive vibes, the generous injury luck, the clutch execution and total reversal of fortune from last year’s 17-week dental appointment.
“It feels good,” said defensive lineman and quarterback wrecker Za’Darius Smith. “I just hate that people are still not talking about us, but it’s okay. We’ll continue to be the underdogs and keep going to work each and every day to get better.”
Every day this week gets Cousins closer to his first visit to FedEx Field and a reunion with the Washington Commanders since signing with the Vikings in 2018. He kept the blinders on at the postgame podium when asked about returning to the nation’s capital.
No need to provoke or hamper his former franchise’s freefall in the standings and society in general. Not with coach Ron Rivera trashing his own team and disgraced owner Daniel Snyder flailing around in exile and litigation quicksand while playing chicken with his fellow owners in the court of public opinion.
Another win is on the tee before the Vikings face a daunting journey to Buffalo and a Week 10 battle with the Bills.
The last time Minnesota was 6-1 was 2009, when Brett Favre tossed golden horseshoes throughout a 12-win season that brought the Vikings to the doorstep of a Super Bowl before plunging into hell at the Louisiana Superdome.
This season feels similarly charmed, without ignoring potential doom. Too many variables remain, but the path to a division title and long-term homefield advantage is clear.
Perhaps even clearer than Cousins’ mad dash to the pylon.
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