DETROIT _ The Vikings are one game away from the halfway point of the three-year, $84 million contract they gave Kirk Cousins in March 2018, in an effort to add the quarterback they believed could augment a championship-caliber roster.
The efficacy of that contract still is an open question, but performances like the one Cousins delivered on Sunday at Ford Field are precisely what the Vikings had in mind when they opened their checkbook.
Their 42-30 win over the Detroit Lions on Sunday, in a game where their vaunted defense allowed 433 yards, owed plenty to a masterful offensive performance from the quarterback on a day where he lost his top receiver. The victory _ the Vikings' first of the season in the division _ moved them to 5-2 ahead of a Thursday night home game with the 1-6 Redskins.
Cousins, playing with family and friends from his hometown of Holland, Mich., in attendance, finished with 337 yards and four scores, riddling the Lions with the play action throws he'd used in wins over the Giants and Eagles the past two weeks. It was the second time in his career he'd thrown four touchdown passes in back-to-back games. The Vikings needed them, to prevail in a game that turned into more of a shootout than any they've played this year.
Matthew Stafford completed 15 of his 23 first-half passes, throwing for 173 yards and targeting a different Vikings defensive back on each of his three scores to Marvin Jones. The receiver took a quick throw from Stafford and spun off of Trae Waynes' tackle attempt for a 16-yard score to put the Lions up 7-0.
Cousins answered with a five-play drive that ended on a 25-yard strike to Thielen after the Lions bit hard on a play fake to Dalvin Cook. Thielen injured his hamstring while stretching out for the throw in the back of the end zone, on what turned out to be his final play of the day. He left the field with the assistance of the team's athletic training staff, and eventually traded his helmet for a baseball cap after it was determined he wouldn't return to the field.
The injury put Cousins in a position where he had to work with just three active receivers _ Stefon Diggs, Bisi Johnson and Laquon Treadwell _ the rest of the day. The Vikings frequently lined up with two tight ends, motioned fullback C.J. Ham out wide and put rookie Irv Smith in the slot, in an effort to conjure up a passing game with Thielen out. It was Cousins' resourcefulness, and the relentless legs of Cook, that helped them survive.
They converted six of their 10 third-down attempts, including a 14-yard strike from Cousins to Stefon Diggs on a third-and-11 on the opening drive of the second half (after the Lions declined a holding penalty) and a 23-yard pitch on a third-and-1 after the Lions followed a jet sweep fake to Diggs to the other side of the field.
Two plays later, Cousins hit Kyle Rudolph _ who'd caught just nine passes for the season before Sunday _ for a 15-yard score. The tight end, who's been asked to take on more of a blocking role in the Vikings' offense this year, finished with five catches for 58 yards and the touchdown, his first since catching two in the Vikings' Week 16 win in Detroit last year.
Then, after the Lions scored with 3:05 to go, Cousins found Diggs for 67 yards off play action. Cook _ who ended the day with 142 yards on 25 carries _ waltzed in for his second touchdown of the day to seal the win.
