Kirk Cousins Has Become the Control In Kevin O’Connell’s Offense

Vikings Kirk Cousins Has Become the Control In Kevin O'Connell's Offense Photo Credit: David Brytus-Imagn Images By Tom Schreier - November 12, 2026 The Minnesota Vikings’ quarterback play held back a 6-2 team with an elite defense. That’s why they traded a third-round pick for 38-year-old Kirk Cousins . Aside from Daniel Jones , who has a career-low 68.9 passer rating after an Achilles tear , Cousins is the only option they had who knows Kevin O’Connell’s offense well enough to start at Lambeau on Sunday. Cousins will pick up where he left off with the Vikings. The Achilles injury he suffered in Green Bay two years ago set in motion a quarterback carousel in Minnesota. Assuming he starts in Lambeau on Sunday, everything will come full circle for him. Sam Darnold resurrected his career two years ago. But they moved on last season, turning the offense over to J.J. McCarthy , whom they had taken with the 10th-overall pick in 2024. Darnold won the Super Bowl last year while McCarthy floundered , leading the Vikings back to Cousins. Still, all eyes are on Justin Jefferson after their 23-6 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Monday night. He should be a cheat code for any quarterback. However, Minnesota’s starting quarterbacks haven’t been able to run O’Connell’s offense since they let Darnold leave. Jefferson was patient with J.J. McCarthy, long after it became clear McCarthy wasn’t a franchise player. He stood by Kyler Murray as recently as the Indianapolis Colts game after the bye. He was most productive with Carson Wentz under center last year. However, he appeared frustrated with O’Connell on the sidelines as Minnesota’s offense spiraled, sabotaging the defense again. We need to figure this out FAST. (Via @DillLein07 ) pic.twitter.com/Y9Zm5D21bP — VikingzFanPage (@vikingzfanpage) November 10, 2026 “We’re 6-2, but we still gotta figure it out on offense. We’re still struggling on offense, honestly,” said Jefferson. “So we just gotta find ways to simplify it and make it easier for everybody, and just go out there, execute the plays, not thinking. Just go and play ball.” Jefferson wasn’t taking a shot at O’Connell so much as stating what everyone could see. He said he doesn’t care who’s under center. The Vikings just need a quarterback who can get the ball to the skill players, hence why they acquired Cousins at the deadline. He also said it’s not exclusively a quarterback issue. “It’s an all-11 thing,” Jefferson said, while emphasizing that he’s tired of talking about the same offensive issues. “It’s not really a quarterback thing, or an O-line thing, or a receiver thing. It’s all 11 guys just executing our plays, every single play. Tonight we didn’t do that.” Perhaps most pertinently, O’Connell must call plays to get the quarterback in rhythm and time them out so he can find the open receiver. After the game, he lamented not running the ball more. However, Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason have limitations as running backs, and the Vikings didn’t add one at the deadline. At some point, O’Connell must get the passing offense going. “The issue right now is [that] our preparation is not coming to the stadium with us,” O’Connell said. “There’s a little bit of a void [in whether] we could bring some of that and what we see on the practice field to the stadium. We’ve got to figure that out, whether it’s how we prepare…we’ve cut volume back. We need to get better.” When O’Connell says he “cut volume back,” he means he simplified the offense. Still, Wentz missed basic checkdowns and threw directly at defenders. He’s culpable for throwing two picks, nearly throwing another one, and fumbling by failing to throw the ball forward on a screen to Jefferson. However, Wentz’s turnovers were mostly due to inaccuracy and decision-making. Was that because he had an off day? Or because there’s an issue with the offense? Wentz played uncharacteristically poorly on Monday night. He’s always been turnover-prone and frequently suffered injuries , most notably to his shoulder last year. Still, he threw for over 300 yards against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Dublin and the Philadelphia Eagles after returning stateside last year. He also threw for three touchdowns in Week 1 against the Packers this season . Therefore, throwing for 81 yards, two interceptions, and a fumble against Buffalo was an unexpected result. If Kirk Cousins steps in and runs the offense smoothly, we’ll know that Kyler Murray and Carson Wentz were the issue. But if he doesn’t, it likely means it’s a coaching issue, which will be devastating for an organization that retained Kevin O’Connell after firing Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in the offseason. Tom Schreier Tom Schreier is the founder and proprietor of Zone Coverage. He created Zone Coverage with the goal of mixing new age media with old-school journalism. His goal was to create an economically sustainable platform for sports content for Minnesota fans. Before Zone Coverage, Tom wrote for Bleacher Report and Yahoo! Sports before joining 105 The Ticket in 2014. All Articles