Kirk Cousins' struggles helped lead to his offensive coordinator getting canned.
The Minnesota Vikings quarterback acknowledged his role in the Vikings' struggles.
"Myself, I'd be the first one to say, if I had played at a higher level, we're probably not talking about the things we're talking about," Cousins said Wednesday, via the Pioneer Press. "So I take ownership as well."
Cousins noted playing at Chicago, New England and Seattle -- Minnesota's last three losses -- exacerbated the offense's problems.
After starting with a top-10 offense, the Vikings have fallen to 20th in scoring and 17th in total yards.
Cousins first 7 games: 308.9 passing YPG; 7.2 yards per attempt; 14-3 TD-INT ratio, 101.8 passer rating
Cousins last 6 games: 256 passing YPG; 6.9 yards per attempt; 10-6 TD-INT ratio, 93.9 passer rating
The Vikings quarterback knows that with three games left the offense isn't going to be altered drastically moving from John DeFilippo to Kevin Stefanski. What must change is his own performance.
"We're not going to just reinvent our offensive scheme," he said. "But what needs to change as far as execution is we've got to score points, and you do that and you put yourself in a position, especially with the way our defense has played."
Cousins is only part of the Vikings' offensive problem of late, with his tendency to bail backward at the first sign of pressure a maddening trait. The Vikings' offensive line has been one of the worst in the NFL this season. Per Next Gen Stats, Cousins has been pressured on 193 dropbacks, 20 more pressures than any other QB. In those situations, his completion percentage drops to 62.1 with a 5-6 TD-INT ratio and 76.8 passer rating.
Starting Sunday against a Miami defense that has the second-lowest pressure rate in the NFL (23.1 percent), Cousins must prove he can make a run down the stretch.
