The 2023 NFL season didn’t start the way the Minnesota Vikings wanted. Kirk Cousins and company were favored to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home, but Baker Mayfield led the visitors to an upset.

It wasn’t an easy day for Cousins, who had three turnovers. The veteran quarterback managed to throw two touchdowns, but an interception and two fumbles overshadowed his performance.

Just before halftime, Cousins got picked by rookie safety Christian Izien when he tried to find K.J. Osborn at the goal line. The Vikings blew an opportunity to at least score a field goal to take the lead, but head coach Kevin O’Connell let Cousins know he wants him to stay aggressive.

Kevin O’Connell encourages Kirk Cousins to be aggressive

“I think it was a situation where he felt like, that’s not even half a click, that’s maybe a quarter of a click away from probably being a catch and then KJ’s got a chance to split two and maybe score,” O’Connell said, via ProFootballTalk. “I think looking at it again, 13-yard line, where we were, it’s going to be a little tighter, things happen faster. That’s a play that Kirk has executed multiple times and he knows that he’s going to continue to stay aggressive in those moments. And [it’s] just an unfortunate outcome with how the defender, outside leverage defender kind of ended up, where that ball ended up with KJ trying to make a tough catch there.

“It was tough, it was a tough part of the football game when I look back on it, knowing where the momentum was at the time. We had hit Justin [Jefferson] on an explosive, we had hit another decent play down there to still having a couple of timeouts there and the ability to kind of manipulate the end of the half there. There’s no question that we would’ve loved to finish that drive with a touchdown, but always want him to be aggressive, play what he sees, and he did a lot of really good things yesterday as well to help us stay in the football game — despite the turnovers and the penalties being so favored critically against us.”

When does Kirk Cousins’ contract expire?

Kirk Cousins is in the final year of his contract with the Minnesota Vikings, so he’s set to hit unrestricted free agency in 2024.