Many of the greatest players of all time are considered to be “clutch” performers. These are athletes who deliver some of their most memorable games in high-pressure moments. On the other hand, there are other players who seem to get worse on larger stages. These players “choke” under pressure. Kirk Cousins, quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, is one of those players, and his latest Monday Night Football loss cements that.
Kirk Cousins is Proof that Choking Exists in Professional Sports
Choking Defined
Sports fans have talked about certain players choking under pressure forever. In the NFL, one example of a player usually seen as choking under pressure is Peyton Manning. He would put up ridiculous regular season statistics, only to usually have some of the worst games of his career once he made it to the playoffs. His nemesis Tom Brady, on the other hand, is seen as the opposite, or a clutch performer. Brady is known for his multiple game-winning drives in the Super Bowl.
Baumeister and Showers were the first to scientifically explore the idea of choking in competition. They defined choking as a “paradoxical performance effect” where instead of an athlete performing at their best when the game is on the line, their performance actually gets worse compared to their usual performances. Some of the causes of choking they found were audience presence, the performance being high-stakes, and the meaning of the performance to that player. Basically, the bigger the game is, the more likely for a player to choke.
Unfortunately for Cousins, he has earned the label of a choker so far in his career.
Explanations of Choking
Researchers have hypothesized that pressure put on athletes can help improve performance, but only up to a certain point. Those that choke are less able to deal with pressure. On the other hand, those that are considered clutch use that pressure to push them to the next level. Baumeister and Showers found that choking happens when an athlete tries to force a good performance. Instead of just going with the flow, the performer overthinks actions that should come naturally. It makes sense that a quarterback is susceptible to choking since they usually shoulder most of the blame for a win or loss.
Another consistent finding in researching athletes susceptible to choking is a concept called Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE). This happens when a performer experiences an increase in anxiety as they realize that all eyes are on them. This worry that a poor performance will be seen by others increases the chances that a poor performance will occur. Although elite athletes are used to performing in front of tens of thousands of people, there are certain times when the pressure and crowds are intensified, like primetime games.
Stats of a Choke Artist
For Cousins, there are plenty of game splits to analyze that prove he is a choke artist. Cousins plays best when he is comfortable, and during times where there is the least pressure on him to perform. On his career, he is 22-16 when playing at home, in front of gentler crowds. Away games net him a 12-23-1 record. He also has bad starts and finishes to seasons. This season, in particular, he went 1-2-1 in September. He settled in for a 5-3 record in the middle of the season, but has lost two straight so far in December.
It gets worse from there. The Monday Night Football broadcasters lambasted Cousins for being one of the few quarterbacks to never win under the Monday night lights. This shows how poorly he does in high-pressure games, when the entire league is watching. Cousins is not only 0-7 on MNF, but also 1-5 on Thursday Night games. When the pressure is on, Cousins crumbles worse than a dry scone.
Comparing to Mr. Clutch
Now, it can be argued that there is no surprise that Cousins win total would go down in primetime matchups, since he goes against much stiffer competition. However, when compared to Brady, the differences are exemplified. Brady has about a 76%-win percentage in games played on Sundays (night games included), but that total only drops to 71% when playing night games. Cousins is much worse
Additionally, when Brady’s quarter-by-quarter stats are compared to Cousins, the divide between a clutch and a choke player is further exemplified. Brady isn’t perfect and doesn’t win all of his games. Like most quarterbacks, his quarterback rating (QBR) is worse in the fourth quarter than it is in the first. It goes from 97.3 in the first to 94.8 in the fourth quarter. Still, that is only a three-point drop. Cousins’ first-quarter QBR of 105.4 is actually better than Brady’s. However, it dips all the way to 88.7 in the fourth quarter. It further plummets to 71.4 in overtime versus Brady’s 92.8 rating.
When the Game is on the Line
Choke artists and clutch performers are the most obvious when a quarterback has one last drive to get their team a score. When trailing with under two minutes to go, Cousins folds most of the time, delivering just three touchdowns to five interceptions throughout his career. Give him four minutes when trailing, and it doesn’t get much better. In those situations, Cousins has nine touchdowns compared to ten interceptions.
As many football fans have seen time and time again, Brady does the opposite. He boasts 10 touchdowns to only four interceptions with under two minutes left in the game, and 23 touchdowns with only eight interceptions when trailing with four minutes left. To put that in perspective, Cousins has thrown more game-sealing interceptions than Brady while playing only about a third as many games as him.
Last Word on Kirk Cousins, the Choke Artist
It is going to take a lot for Cousins to be able to shake the title of a choker in the NFL. Many might wonder why the Washington Redskins refused to give Cousins a long-term deal, instead franchise tagging him for two-years in a row. Then, they traded the Kansas City Chiefs for Alex Smith and let Cousins walk for nothing. He ended up being the first quarterback to sign a fully-guaranteed contract with the Vikings. Now three-quarters into the first season, the Vikings are probably wishing they could get out of it.
In the end, Cousins has a lot of the same physical tools as Brady. He puts up similar numbers as Brady many Sunday mornings and afternoons. But, when Cousins gets into matchups where the stakes are high, he can’t hang. This is why Cousins and the rest of the Vikings will be sitting at home while Brady and the Patriots enjoy another deep run in the playoffs.
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