They were 4th in total offense, but 11th in total scoring. If you’re looking at yards/game as your litmus test, the number of yards separating the 4th team (Vikes) and the middle team (16th, San Fran) is 23 yards a game.
Cousins is the QB because he was available. Competent QBs don’t often become available via free agency. With their refusal to move up and draft one, or make a blockbuster trade for a different one, he was one of their only options. Now with the contract, they don’t have too many other options.
I get what y’all are saying. Cousins is legitimately a (statically) top 1/3 QB. But just take a step back and ask “is this working”? If you’re happy with the results, then I’m happy for you, and you probably don’t need to debate anybody. But I would argue this isn’t working, so to keep repeating the same thing over and over again expecting a different result is silly.
Zim is completely stuck in his ways, and is not going to reinvent the wheel to change with the times. To expect some magical result out of that seems foolish to me.
With that said, IF the D, the OL, and Cook stay healthy, this could be a 9-10 win team. I just have no faith come crunch time in the playoffs this group of players and coaches have what it takes to get it done.