You wouldn’t know it based on his team’s 0-3 record, but Minnesota Vikings’ quarterback Kirk Cousins is on pace to rewrite the NFL record books in 2023.
As noted by Dov Kleiman, Cousins is currently on pace to throw for a single-season record 6,091 yards to go along with 51 touchdowns and just 11 interceptions. Peyton Manning stills holds the single-season records for passing touchdowns (55) and passing yards (5,477), both set in the 2013 season.
Even if you exclude the 17th game on the Vikings’ schedule, Cousins is still on pace for approximately 5,733 passing yards. And yet, Minnesota hasn’t been able to buy a single win yet this season.
The 35-year-old Cousins is averaging 358.3 passing yards per contest, and Manning averaged 342.3 in his record-setting 2013 season. Now comes the hard part for Cousins: Sustaining this level of play for three more months.
Cousins generates more criticism than most other NFL quarterbacks because of his well-documented struggles against winning teams. But as his stats clearly outline, Cousins definitely isn’t the problem in the Gopher State.
History isn’t on the Vikings side, either. As noted by The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, only six teams went on to make the postseason following an 0-3 start since the NFL expanded in 1979. The last team to achieve that was the 2018 Houston Texans.
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NFL stories via Google! Follow Us
The Vikings will try to scratch themselves off the winless list when they visit the 0-3 Carolina Panthers on Sunday afternoon.
