Through weekly film sessions, Kirk Cousins and Mike Zimmer build a stronger bond

Kirk Cousins and Mike Zimmer have slightly different recollections of how their weekly Thursday meetings started. Zimmer said before the Vikings' regular-season opener that Cousins suggested they study film together for the first time, while the quarterback said he'd talked with Zimmer before the season about resuming a practice they'd done at least occasionally in prior years.

"We had done it in the past and just gotten away from it," Cousins said. "In the spring we met, and just felt like it was a no-brainer and spent more time going forward. That's what we've been doing."

Neither Cousins nor Zimmer doubts the 45-minute weekly sessions have been beneficial. Both said it's helped their communication, allowing Cousins to pick Zimmer's brain on defensive strategy and providing the two a forum to discuss everything from the offensive game plan to the mood of the team. And while Zimmer wouldn't credit the meetings for Cousins' hot start — "I just think he's playing good; I don't think that had anything to do with it," he said — the sessions have come at a time when Cousins is playing as well as he has in Minnesota.

The 33-year-old ranks fourth in the league in passer rating and touchdown passes through three weeks, while sitting sixth in advance metrics like expected points added per play. He has the NFL's longest active streak of passes without an interception (200), and is 17 games into the second-longest streak of games with a passer rating over 90 in NFL history.

"I think it's helpful to have a structured time every week to meet with the head coach as the quarterback," Cousins said Wednesday. "With the role I have, I think it's great to just have an understood time every week to meet. I forget which week it was, but coming out of Monday or Tuesday I had a thought for him, but I knew, 'Hey, Thursday I have my time for him; we'll go over it then.' So I just think it just helps to have that planned time every week.

"It's heavy Xs and Os. I think it's more if it needs to be, but if it doesn't, then it's going to be Xs and Os."

It seems to be a positive development for a relationship that's had moments of tension over the years and appeared frayed in training camp after Kellen Mond tested positive for COVID-19 and Zimmer vented publicly while unvaccinated QBs like Cousins and Nate Stanley were forced to miss five days of practice as close contacts.

Since the start of the season, though, Zimmer has praised his quarterback perhaps as much as at any point in their four seasons together, highlighting Cousins' growth as a leader as much as his production on the field.

The meetings, Zimmer said, have made it so "the communication between both of us is much better.

"I can understand some of the things he's thinking about during the game. I can kind of try to give him some tips on what teams are trying to do. I mean, he asks a lot of questions about defenses in general. And I try to talk a lot about even past history things, you know? What happened when I was in Dallas or Cincinnati or whatever. He asks a lot of those things. And we talk a lot about different things. Things that may upset him, things that may upset me. I think it's been really good."

Through three weeks, so has Cousins.

"From a clean pocket, best in the game, man. The best. The best," running back Dalvin Cook said. "He's just turning the ball loose and being him, man. But you're starting to see that leadership side. A few weeks ago he came in at halftime and turned us up, just got us going, ready to play. As the quarterback of the team, he made sure we were ready to play coming out of the half. Little stuff like that. You're seeing that with No. 8 and you're seeing that carry over to his play."