The fact that the Vikings imploded yesterday was not surprising. Even the manner in which it happened didn't catch me off guard. What was shocking was the degree to which it played out.

A contemporary colloquialism describes it best: they shit the bed. Specifically: Kirk Cousins, Riley Reiff, Mike Remmers, and Tom Compton. Cousins in particular: he was rapidly blinking his eyes, cheeks twitching, lips pursing repeatedly. When the entire season was in a "4th down, do or die" situation, he ran off the pitch, and had to be unceremoniously tossed back on: "What are you thinking? We're not punting here, are you nuts?"

One of the broadcasters explained that Cousins has a spreadsheet, with blocks for every ten minutes of his day pre-planned, and that he gets stressed if his day gets off track. They also explained that going into yesterday's game, he's only won four games in twenty eight attempts against opposition with winning records during their respective seasons.

He has superb arm strength, excellent accuracy on short, long, and intermediate throws, looks players off and reads the entire field, and can even extend plays with his legs-- when things are in front of him. But just like with his spreadsheet, once a game gets off track, his mentality starts to fall apart. And against good teams, no game of NFL gridiron "stays on track", hence his ghastly record against them.

To be fair to Cousins, the aforementioned offensive linemen were just as poor: by the end of the match, Chicago's third-string defensive players were running right around and through them. It was a total and utter collapse in basic fundamentals. An absolute disintegration. The constant "eighty four million dollar contract" talk is an irritating non-sequitur too: that's the going rate for a starting-caliber NFL quarterback these days, like it or not-- trying to pin higher expectations on Cousins purely based on his salary is silly.

Looking to next season, the Vikings are a team with a lot of quality pieces. Any general manager would love to inherit such a roster. But at this point-- and I hope I'm wrong-- it's difficult to claim that the core of Mike Zimmer, Rick Spielman, and Kirk Cousins are going to be able to deliver a Super Bowl to Minneapolis.