49ers vs. Vikings: 3 reasons the Niners win the NFC divisional round

Reason No. 2: Kirk Cousins

The second reason the San Francisco 49ers will win is because of the Minnesota Vikings’ quarterback: Kirk Cousins. Look, Cousins is a good quarterback. IIn fact, he’s very good. There is a reason many thought that Kyle Shanahan wanted to bring Cousins with him to San Francisco.

But, there is an even better reason to be thankful that he didn’t. And that is because Cousins is not clutch.

I know that being clutch doesn’t sound like a real thing, but look at these stats.

He is 0-8 on Monday Night Football. Cousins is famous for not performing well in primetime. Sure he has had some big wins in primetime this year, but is that really enough to prove that he can handle the pressure?

Many will point to the win against the Saints last weekend and say that Cousins has finally slain the beast; he has finally proven he can win big games. And sure, this weekend’s game is not technically primetime.

But, this weekend’s game is still by far the biggest game of Cousins’ career, and he has a proven track record of not being able to play well in big situations.

What if last week’s win against the Saints was the exception, not the rule? And looking at the stats, Cousins wasn’t particularly impressive.

He was 19-31 for 242 yards passing and one touchdown. Sure, those aren’t bad numbers, but they’re not great numbers either. They certainly aren’t game-winning numbers—they’re just not game-losing numbers.

Last week’s win seems more like a defensive win to me, rather than a Cousins’ win.

The bottom line is: Kirk Cousins has historically struggled to win in big games. As such, it seems unlikely that he will be able to play well enough to keep up with this 49ers offense.

Especially with its two star receivers not being full participants in practice this week.