MINNEAPOLIS -- The expectations surrounding Kirk Cousins often seem like a moving target.
Whenever the Minnesota Vikings quarterback achieves something -- a statistical mark or first career playoff win -- the follow-up entails the perceived next challenge coinciding with a "but what about ..." retort.
Fair or not, that's been the story for Cousins in Minnesota. The 32-year-old has had to prove the legitimacy of what he's earned on the field. He is among the most proficient quarterbacks in franchise history through almost three seasons, but skepticism follows him.
And there's more pressure now on Cousins to help the Vikings (6-6) secure their second straight playoff berth.
A win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, FOX) would be the Vikings' second against a team that has a winning record. It would also move Minnesota ahead of the Bucs into the No. 6 seed in the NFC playoff picture.
Despite some ups and downs the past three weeks, Cousins is riding a considerable hot streak, and the Vikings will need that to continue over the final four games.
"Kirk has really settled down the last four, five, six weeks and been very steady in his play, entering the games with a lot of confidence," offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak said. "It just comes with playing and competing. He obviously is playing very well right now."
Cousins orchestrated an impressive turnaround after the Vikings' 1-5 start, during which he threw 10 interceptions. He posted an NFL-best 124.3 passer rating in November, the second-highest completion percentage (72.4%) and threw 12 touchdowns (third most). He's one of five quarterbacks with four 300-yard, three-touchdown games this season, joining Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Josh Allen.
His late-game prowess has become noteworthy after leading game-winning drives against the Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars in consecutive weeks. Trailing the Panthers by 11 points in the third quarter on Nov. 29, the Vikings' offense thundered back in the final 29 minutes. Cousins completed 21-of-26 passes for 223 yards and two touchdowns, including the go-ahead TD with 46 seconds to play.
Prior to the Jaguars game, Cousins was 1-13-1 when trailing at the half in Minnesota. That, too, was another hurdle he crossed when the Vikings were able to overcome an early second-half pick-six and fumble near the goal line to pull off an overtime win.
The fourth quarter has brought out the best in Cousins, who has completed 70.8% of his passes for 853 yards, 11 touchdowns and one interception in the final 15 minutes of regulation.
The Vikings' playoff hopes might have tanked without Cousins' elevated play the past few weeks. That's an interesting change after the strategy Minnesota adopted coming out of its bye seemed to be to limit the impact Cousins would have on the game by running the offense through Dalvin Cook.
Cook had a career-high 38 touches against Jacksonville en route to his sixth 100-yard rushing game of the season. If the Vikings continue to ride Cook at this rate -- average 28.5 touches over his final four games -- he'd eclipse 400 touches and break the franchise record (388) set by Adrian Peterson during his MVP season in 2012.
That's an awful lot to ask from Cook, who has carried the offense back into contention, creating an opportunity for Cousins to shoulder a bigger role in the final four weeks.
Part of Cousins' success has come from relying on rookie receiver Justin Jefferson. With 61 catches, 1,039 receiving yards and seven touchdowns, Jefferson has given the Vikings offense everything it needs to build around. After a slow first half against Jacksonville (two catches for 12 yards), Jefferson was targeted 10 times in the final three quarters. And it led to Jefferson becoming the fifth rookie receiver in the Super Bowl era to notch 1,000 receiving yards in his first 12 games.
Mike Zimmer is impressed by Cousins' recent stretch because of the way he's played in the face of added pressure. Since Week 13, Cousins has been blitzed on 32.3% of his dropbacks and posted a 121.2 passer rating and 91.2 QBR while going 16-of-26 for 183 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.
That success against pressure will be important against a Tampa team that blitzes at the third-highest rate in the NFL (39.3%).
"He's done really well. He's stood in there and taken some shots," Zimmer said. "I think we're getting a lot of it based on them getting extra guys in there to try and set edges on Cook and things like that. But I think he's done good.
"He took some shots [Sunday] and hung in there and made some great throws. So he's been under a little bit of duress the last two weeks. We have an opportunity to slow some of that down by some of the things we're doing."