Kirk Cousins getting destroyed for checkdown with game on the line

The defense faltered on the big stage, and so did Cousins with the game on the line.

What was Kirk Cousins thinking when he chose to throw short of the sticks on 4th-and-8 with the game on the line? The pass was caught by T.J. Hockenson but was well short of the first down and it killed the final drive of Minnesota's season in a 31-24 loss to the Giants on Wild Card weekend. 

6 yards short of the 1st down with your season on the line.

The Kirk Cousins experience is something. pic.twitter.com/oNkxhxt1Np

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) January 16, 2023

Cousins is hardly to blame on a day when the Vikings defense was was gouged with five different scoring drives of 75-plus yards, but when it mattered most Cousins didn't deliver the way he had in his record-tying eight fourth-quarter comebacks during the regular season. And for it, he's being crushed on social media. 

Kirk Cousins, at his big age, is still throwing check downs, short of the sticks, with the game on the line?? HOW?!

— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) January 16, 2023

Kirk wyd man

— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) January 16, 2023

Kirk Cousins was mostly excellent today. But on the biggest play of the season, he throws a 5-yard checkdown with a defender barreling down on Hockenson.

— Phil Mackey 🎙 (@PhilMackey) January 16, 2023

Others are criticizing the play call. Why have any player run a route short of the line to gain with the season on the line? Ex-Gopher and NFL wide receiver/current Vikings analyst Ron Johnson tweeted: "Kirk Cousins had no time to throw but I’ll never understand why TJ Hockenson wasn’t put on an 8 yd route. He has man coverage so let him work the deep out or work the middle…"C

Thielen, Osborn, Jefferson. Left to right. On fourth-and-8 with the game on the line. The result was a 3 yard check down to Hockenson. Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/OvVV4tdY3M

— Courtney Cronin (@CourtneyRCronin) January 16, 2023

"He knew it was fourth down. He just wanted to put the ball in play," head coach Kevin O'Connell said afterward. "I was watching some of the routes down the field kind of materialize and the pocket may or may not have been collapsing on him and he just wanted to make sure he gave somebody a chance and they made a play."

Cousins' explanation?

"Didn't feel good about putting it up to Justin [Jefferson] and then when I went to progress I just felt like I was about to get sacked and I felt like I got to put the ball in play. I can't go down with a sack so I kick it out to T.J.," Cousins said.

"I had thrown short of the sticks a few plays in the game and even going back a few weeks and just felt like throwing short of the sticks isn't the end of the world. It's just obviously tight coverage so didn't have the chance to pull away. I just thought I was going to go down and take a sack if I didn't put it out."

Cousins finished the game 31-of-39 for 273 yards and two touchdown. He wasn't intercepted and he didn't fumble. Again, had the defense stepped up in any way, this conversation isn't being had. But the defense didn't do it's job and Cousins is now in the memory banks as being the guy who made a bad decision in a big moment that cemented Minnesota's early exit from the playoffs. 

Related: Frauds: Vikings crumble on big stage in season-ending loss to Giants