Kirk Cousins has never finished with a .500 record in any season as a starter, even if he has flirted with it and been properly tagged with the perception that his teams generally finish right around that mark.
He will be hard-pressed to do it in 2021, owing more to a new scheduling quirk than his own acumen. The NFL is now a 17-game affair, and in order to go .500 this season, Cousins' Vikings would need to finish 8-8-1 — not out of the question since Cousins has improbably finished 8-7-1 twice in his career (once each for Washington and Minnesota), but still far less likely than when the NFL played an even number of games like every other rational league everywhere.
But there is one place you can find a perfectly even split on the 2021 Vikings: The William Hill sports book, which released its over/under win total lines for all 32 NFL teams a couple days ago.
Only one NFL team opened with an over-under of 8.5. Yes, it's your Vikings.
I talked about that at the end of Tuesday's Daily Delivery podcast, with the caveat (of course) being that you should only use this a thought exercise if sports betting is not permitted where you live.
If you don't see the podcast player, click here to listen.
In a 17-game season, that means that the wagering-inclined Vikings fan has a simple question to ask herself or himself: Are the Vikings going to finish with a winning record (9-8 or better) or a losing record (8-9 or worse)?
If you had to wager, say, your May rent or mortgage payment on one of those two outcomes, which would you pick?