The Eagles Face The Kirk Cousins Litmus Test at the Perfect Time

As the Eagles embark on a trip to Minnesota for the first time since winning the Super Bowl there (people forget that), the opponent could not have been more well-timed.

Yeah, ideally the perfect time to play a team with a winning record on the road is when your roster is healthy, but there is dwindling hope the medical staff of the Eagles could ever pull that off.

So, the real reason for the perfect timing of this game? The Kirk Cousins Litmus Test™️.

As we hit Week 6 of the NFL season, we are starting to figure out the contenders and pretenders in this league. For our Eagles, do we really know what class they fall in yet? It’s hard to tell when you kick the shit out of a junior varsity Jets team. And the Redskins, another W so far might somehow, someway be even worse than the Luke Falk led Jets.

We could be the efficient team that beat the Packers on a short week. We could be the mistake-ridden team that lost to the Lions. So, what’s the best way to tell? Playing a Kirk Cousins led team.

The brand for Cousins has been: he wins against bad teams and loses against good teams.

We could stop right there. We could make it as simple as that. We’re bad if we lose and good if we win. But, it’s worth it to dive a little deeper on that theory.

When the Eagles had their ONLY marquee victory, it was in an almost must-win situation. Now, as both teams this week sit at 3-2 it’s time to start clearing some space for the playoff push. Kirk Cousins has traditionally been able to propel his team to a 9-7 record (9 wins is his highest win total as a starter which came in 2015). You know this Vikings team will be fluttering around the wild card slots all season long (worked out well for us last year). This year, it’s time for the Eagles to mark their playoff territory, it’d be great to not be in a hole again.

Speaking of in a hole, that phrase best summed up the Eagles performance against the Vikings last year. As fans, we walked away from that matchup LAST October, and we felt that we beat ourselves. Wentz got stripped sacked and that fat ass ran it all the way back before a near collapse from lack of oxygen. Turns out, that wasn’t even the most costly fumble of the entire game as Jay Ajayi fumbled inside the five while simultaneously tearing his ACL. Mix in 9 penalties and the Eagles were fucked by early in the third quarter.

They’d move the ball then turn it over. They’d make a great play, then a penalty would erase it. It was the epitome of mediocrity. Kirk Cousins didn’t win the game, the Eagles simply lost it.

Almost one year later to the date, the Eagles are once again faced with the Kirk Cousins Litmus Test. It’s been no secret since the schedule came out and we saw the Birds had three straight road games (had to accommodate that exciting Phillies playoff baseball), that this would be the defining stretch of the Eagles season.

Good teams beat Kirk Cousins. Bad teams lose to him. Time to find out where the Eagles fall.