Retool or Rebuild for 2022?

That is quite the "analysis" of what was going on.

We were 23rd in scoring over that stretch and put up 3 offensive TDs in the second half of all of those games combined.  The defense was 8th.  If you struggle to score in the second half of games you are going to lose a lot of leads in the second half of games.  

Imagine blaming the 8th best scoring defense for losing games when you have a bottom 10 scoring offense.  

Here's the thing. And some people won't like this.  You can take any Vikings  QB over the years and compare them to Cousins over the last 4 years and everyone one of them comes up short over the same time frame. He is statiscally the BEST QB the Vikings ever had.   The reason the Vikings aren't winning this year has nothing to do with Cousins and everything to do with the defense.  Only people don't have one person on the Defense to blame.  Except Zimmer.   When a defense gives up almost 26 ppg, you are most likely going to be a .500 team.  90% of the time. 

What's the great Aaron Rodges done in Green Bay since 2011?  

I think when you pay a guy like Kirk has been paid that guy needs to produce better than .500. I think 2 or 3 legit Free Agent acquisitions or a premiere Guard plus Teddy Bridgewater probably gets you better results than Cousins salary and bandaid FAs.

I also think all these high Draft picks spent on Offense at the expense of the Defense should have yielded better than Average. This Offense is sitting at 15th in Scoring. That's inarguably Average. Yards, blah, blah, blah per play. Low TOs. Who cares? They are Average at scoring and bottom 5 in 3 & Outs.

It's the perfect storm. Too much money in the QB, which hurts the Defense by leaving no Cap for anything but Tier 3 FAs and an occasional Tier 2 guy. Too many high picks on said QBs Offense because he can't play off-platform for sh*t and needs everything to be perfect around him. And yet the Offense isn't carrying this to Team to anything better than Average.

And let me be clear, I had the exact opinion earlier in Zimmer's tenure when the Defense got all the picks. That Defense needed to have been Elite and capable of carrying a League Average QB to a SB. Instead, it was Very Good.

That's why this whole thing needs a flush. From Rick on down they're never a complete Team. Build a good, sustainable Team from the Tenches out, then look at your options for getting a Franchise QB. What made Cousins so interesting when he hit FA was that he was a Franchise QB, and those rarely become available.

Now look around. Could be 3 of them moving Teams in 1 Offseason. Times are changing. What hasn't changed in 4 years is Kirk being able to carry a Team.

I have no problem with the contract and I’ll take that plus his production and consistency every day over a cheap retread or low pay low production QB like Jackson, Ponder or Teddy.

Hell- Dak in Dallas is being paid more than Kirk and has been in a slump for some time. But you don’t see the Cowboys b*tching about his salary or the fact he isn’t perfect every single game because they understand that they need to give him help when he is having a down game and that they need a top QB to win.

The Boys built their Team while Dak was still on his Rookie deal. Then they paid him.

Cousins is already paid and the Defense needs a total Rebuild. Unless Kirk takes a Team-friendly deal there's zero chance he's going to get the help you alluded to.

If you could pair Kirk with the Defense from 2017 and it all fit within the cap I'd be all for it.

But absent that you are needing at the bare minimum 4 and more likely 5-6 Starters on Defense. That's not coming from 1 or even 2 perfect Drafts. Which means more fliers on the Breelands of the world.

So the Defense likely looks much the same as the this season and last season. Kirk can't elevate the Team to overcome that poor of a Defense. So what exactly is the point?