Chicago Bears: Defense better get ready for Kirk Cousins
By Ryan Heckman
It isn’t set in stone just yet, but Kirk Cousins may likely end up facing the Chicago Bears defense twice every season soon enough.
Earlier today, it was reported that Kirk Cousins had narrowed down his choices to two teams: The Minnesota Vikings and New York Jets. While that doesn’t directly involve the Chicago Bears just yet, it should certainly catch the attention of Vic Fangio and his crew.
Matt Miller reported on Monday that Cousins would be choosing between New York and Minnesota, and now there is an even more recent report that hints he will be choosing the land of 10,000 lakes.
If Cousins indeed signs with the Vikings, they are even more so a Super Bowl contender than they were a year ago.
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Cousins is coming from a Washington Redskins team that has given him little to no offensive line over his career. He has had virtually zero run game to back him up. To top it off, his coordinators haven’t always been the same.
Still, Cousins has finished each of the last three seasons as a top-6 quarterback in the majority of major statistical categories. He has posted three straight seasons with 4,000 or more passing yards including nearly 5,000 in 2016. Cousins has also thrown for 27, 25 and 29 touchdowns each of the last three years, respectively.
The Bears, meanwhile, finished last season as the 10th overall defense in the league. That’s quite impressive for what they had been the two years prior. However, they will have to gear up in free agency and the draft to improve on every level — especially with Cousins rumored to be choosing the VIkings.
Already, they have young and hungry guys like Eddie Jackson and Akiem Hicks who have proven to be capable of a big-time game-changing play. They simply need a few more.
With weapons like Dalvin Cook, Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen, Kyle Rudolph and, oh yeah, the number one overall defense of the 2017 regular season, Cousins would have exponentially more surrounding him than he ever has.
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It is now up to Ryan Pace to continue building the defense, and I have a lot of faith that he will build it in a way that will hang with teams like the Vikings. He has done a great job in the draft as of late, and I see no reason why that won’t continue.