The Minnesota Vikings saw their Cinderella playoff run turn from a carriage into a pumpkin on Saturday afternoon as they fell to the San Francisco 49ers by a score of 27-10. Just like any team, the disappointment of a playoff loss will slowly turn into the uncertainty of the offseason and one of the main topics of discussion is whether Kirk Cousins will get a contract extension from the team.
During Mike Zimmer’s postgame press conference, he was asked about his quarterback’s contract situation as the team heads into another important offseason. Instead of offering his vote of confidence, Zimmer had an interesting reply claiming he didn’t know what Cousins’ contract situation is.
“I don’t know what his contract situation is. We’ll worry about that down the road. Today is not the day to discuss it.”
Mike Zimmer responds to Kirk Cousins’ contract status, and if he is still Minnesota’s “guy.” pic.twitter.com/Zy1rfGZj9k
— CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) January 12, 2020
Zimmer’s answer is an interesting one as it’s a well-known fact that Cousins signed a fully-guaranteed, three-year, $84 million contract in March of 2018. With two seasons down, Cousins is heading into the final year of his contract, which is commonly brought up when he has a performance such as the one he had on Saturday night.
There’s a chance that Zimmer doesn’t want to bring attention to said situation after the game and while Cousins took a visit to Checkdown City against the 49ers, a lot of that also had to do with the conservative playcalling of Kevin Stefanski and the ineffectiveness of the offensive line, which allowed six sacks and couldn’t clear running lanes for Dalvin Cook, who ran for 18 yards on just nine carries.
Meanwhile, Cousins was in rare form trying to explain just what happened in San Francisco during his press conference.
This photo says it all. Kirk Cousins somewhat at a loss for why the team struggled so much on offense. pic.twitter.com/Phe0Giln3j
— VikeFans (@VikeFans) January 12, 2020
Cousins’ time in Minnesota has been filled with plenty of ups and downs, but he comes off a career year where he completed 69.1% of his passes while throwing for 3,603 yards, 26 TD and six interceptions. The Vikings still need to figure something out if they feel he is the future of the team.
Minnesota is currently projected to be roughly $9 million over the salary cap in 2020 and an extension would provide relief for the team who also needs to figure out how to fix their offensive line and secondary. Either way, Zimmer’s resistance to declaring Cousins as their guy raises plenty of questions as they enter the offseason.
