49ers vs. Vikings: 5 bold Week 1 predictions for San Francisco
By Peter Panacy
No. 1: 49ers Help Continue Kirk Cousins’ Woes in Week 1
Kirk Cousins has never performed well in season-opening games.
He has three of them under his belt, all with the Washington Redskins, and none of them have been particularly great:
Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rk | Year | Date | G# | Age | Tm | Opp | Result | GS | Cmp | Att | Cmp% | Yds | TD | Int | Rate | Sk |
15 | 2015 | 2015-09-13 | 1 | 27.025 | WAS | MIA | L 10-17 | * | 21 | 31 | 67.74 | 196 | 1 | 2 | 68.7 | 1 |
31 | 2016 | 2016-09-12 | 1 | 28.024 | WAS | PIT | L 16-38 | * | 30 | 43 | 69.77 | 329 | 0 | 2 | 72.7 | 0 |
47 | 2017 | 2017-09-10 | 1 | 29.022 | WAS | PHI | L 17-30 | * | 23 | 40 | 57.50 | 240 | 1 | 1 | 72.9 | 4 |
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/6/2018.
Cousins is 0-3 in Week 1 starts. And he owns a 2-to-5 touchdown-to-interception ratio during that stretch.
Granted, the context is entirely different. Minnesota’s big free-agent pickup from the offseason has a slew of talented weapons, namely Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen and Kyle Rudolph. But Cousins is also operating under a new offensive coordinator and head coach. It’s anyone’s guess whether or not that winds up being a factor. But Cousins’ issues to kick off the season sure play into San Francisco’s favor.
This isn’t to say the Niners find a way to pull off a victory in Week 1. If they do, however, ensuring Cousins has yet another bad opening performance should be a major part of the equation.
The 49ers and Vikings kick off at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, Sept. 9 from U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
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