Kirk Cousins is back with the Minnesota Vikings, who reacquired their former quarterback at Tuesday’s trade deadline while sitting at 6-2 despite a rough few weeks on offense. NFL analyst Kyle Brandt, however, isn’t buying the idea that the reunion turns Minnesota into a Super Bowl team, questioning whether Cousins can deliver in big games while pointing to a demanding two-game stretch ahead.

Minnesota sent a 2027 third-round pick to the Las Vegas Raiders in the deal, which returns Cousins to the franchise he played for from 2018 to 2023. It came a day after Carson Wentz completed 8 of 25 passes for 81 yards with two interceptions and a lost fumble in a 23-6 home loss to the Buffalo Bills.

Kyle Brandt Questions Kirk Cousins’ Big-Game Record After the Trade

Brandt started by taking aim at how quickly the conversation around Cousins has flipped.

“I’ve seen people who I’ve heard for 15 years say that Cousins can’t win the big one, and now he’s gonna win three big ones,” Brandt said.

He did give Minnesota’s defense, the No. 1-ranked defense in the NFL in PFN’s Defense Impact metric, its due, saying, “I get the defense… I get it.”

He then turned right to the quarterbacks he expects the Vikings to face in the postseason, and what that means for Cousins.

“They’re gonna go against [Brock] Purdy, [Jordan] Love, [Jared] Goff, Caleb [Williams]… killers who don’t care, and they’re not going to score 13 points in a playoff game. Cousins is gonna have to have a big game. He hasn’t done it, guys.”

Minnesota’s recent output shows what Cousins is walking into. The Vikings never scored more than 16 points in any of their last three games, and the last two were losses that dropped them from 6-0 to 6-2. Against the Bills, Minnesota went 0 of 8 on third down and finished with 178 total yards.

Still, Cousins arrives in the middle of a productive season. Through Week 9 with the Raiders, he has thrown for 2,340 yards, fifth in the NFL, and 20 touchdown passes, second in the league, against eight interceptions. PFN’s QB Impact metric has Cousins at 80.5, which is 11th of 35 qualified quarterbacks.

Cousins also returns to head coach Kevin O’Connell, who coached him in Minnesota and Washington. In 2022, he helped Cousins earn a Pro Bowl selection after he threw for 4,547 yards, 29 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions en route to a 13-4 record.

Brandt wasn’t ready to pencil Minnesota into the Super Bowl.

“I love Kirk Cousins, but we cannot sit here and be like, the Vikings, who also never get to the Super Bowl ever, are gonna be, like, prancing in there,” he said. “I just don’t see it. We got work to do. We haven’t even seen them yet.”

Cousins has yet to take a snap in his second stint with Minnesota, and Brandt pointed to what is waiting on the schedule.

“They play at Lambeau and then San Francisco. They could lose both those games easily and we’d be like, ‘Oh, I thought they were gonna win the Super Bowl.’ It’s exciting… but, like, not yet,” he said.

The Vikings visit the 6-3 Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on Sunday, then face the 7-1 49ers on Nov. 22 at Estadio Banorte in Mexico City. The trip to Green Bay also takes Cousins back to the stadium where he played his last game for Minnesota in 2023.