Kirk Cousins: Schrödinger’s quarterback

Yeah, it’s another Kirk Cousins post

The paradox of Schrödinger’s cat postulates that there are times, dependent upon other random events, that an entity may somehow occupy two states of being simultaneously. One of the primary interpretations of this paradox, which you can read more about here, stipulates that said entity ceases being both things and becomes one thing or another. . .in the case of the cat either being alive or dead. . .based upon when an observation takes place.

After reading a couple of stories around the internet about our Minnesota Vikings today, particularly this one from Dustin Baker at Vikings Territory, I have come to a similar conclusion about the Vikings’ most famous/infamous player.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen. . .Kirk Cousins is Schrödinger’s quarterback.

In the VT article linked above, SiriusXM sports personality Adam Schein speculates on the possibility of Cousins being traded to the San Francisco 49ers, which is something that we’ve heard every offseason for roughly five years now, give or take. Schein seems to believe that if the Niners were to trade for Cousins, he could be the missing piece that takes them to a championship.

This is strange, given the way that Cousins is viewed by so many others, not the least of which is a significant portion of his own fan base.

We’ve been told for nearly Cousins’ entire tenure for the Vikings that he’s unable to win big games (except when he does), that he can’t win in prime time (except when he does), and that he’s unable to lead teams from behind (except when he does so a league-leading number of times). So how is it that Cousins would be what pushes the Niners to glory? Is football some sort of a team game or something?

In much the same way that Schrödinger’s cat is simultaneously alive and dead, depending upon one’s perspective, Kirk Cousins is somehow both not good enough to win when it matters and the missing piece that can lead a team to a championship. I’m not super smart or anything, but I’m not entirely sure how that works, to be honest.

Cousins isn’t the first Vikings quarterback to fall under this heading. Back in the early 2000s, Daunte Culpepper was looked at in a similar manner. There was a faction of Vikings fans that were positive that Culpepper was horrible and was only able to accomplish anything because of the presence of Randy Moss, but these same people would swear that the Vikings could trade Culpepper away to another team for multiple first-round picks.

Because NFL teams are always willing to give up multiple first-rounders for guys that are awful, right?

(Seriously, there were entire message boards. . .you youngsters can look up what a “message board” was. . .devoted to that topic for a long time.)

I know that the Kirk Cousins debate has grown tiresome among much of the fan base at this point. I’ve been a big supporter of Cousins during his time in Minnesota, but if the Vikings can put together a decent succession plan to move on from him and get something in return I’m all for it.

I just wish that all the Really Smart Football People™ out there could come to some sort of a consensus about whether or not Kirk Cousins is actually good. He can’t really be great and awful simultaneously, I don’t think, so if we could pick one way or the other to lean it would be appreciated by a lot of people.