Vikings Leaning This Hard on Dalvin Cook All Season is Never Going to Work

The Minnesota Vikings have a 2-1 record heading into Week 4 of the 2019 season, and most of that success is due to their stifling defense and the rushing prowess of Dalvin Cook.

While that's all well and good, the Vikings offense is just too one-dimensional to last. It's Cook first and everyone else second. But don't tell head coach Mike Zimmer that, because he insists his goal was always offensive balance.

“I want to play good defense and I want to be able to run the ball,” Zimmer told the media on Monday, via ProFootballTalk. “I don’t want to run the ball 40 times and throw it 10, I want to have balance. But if that’s what they believe, then good. If we’re running the ball effectively like we have been, we’ve had some big play runs in there, and we’ve had a couple that are really, really close ones. It’ll be harder to run the ball this week [against the Bears], these guys are a load up front. It may be a different ball game this week.”

While the "feed Cook til he throws up" method has generally worked through three weeks, Zimmer's scheme will eventually become predictable. That all starts on Sunday against the Chicago Bears, who you know will stack the box against Cook, and that's to accomplish one thing:

Put Kirk Cousins in the right position to throw the football with confidence.

The most efficient Cousins has been this season to date was in Week 1 against the Atlanta Falcons, in which he posted a completion percentage of 80...on 10 throws...for 98 yards. And even that was largely thanks to a impressive performance by Cook that took the heat off of him in the pocket.

When Cousins has thrown the ball more, it's made the Vikings susceptible to misfires. In Week 2 against the Green Bay Packers, Cousins completed 14-of-32 passes for 230 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. That's not good enough.

You had best believe the Chicago will use Green Bay's blueprint against these Vikes.

Mike Zimmer claims he wants balance on offense, but being headstrong and relying on a run-heavy attack will only get you so far in the rough and relentless NFL, and the Minnesota Vikings will receive a wake-up call against the Chicago Bears this Sunday if they can't find a new path.