The Minnesota Vikings didn't have the success they expected in Year 1 with Kirk Cousins and the quarterback has eyes on changing that.

"I think the next level, really, is all about winning," Cousins said. "I'm pretty much a .500 quarterback in my career so far and I don't think that's where you want to be, and that's not why you are brought in or people or excited about you.

"If I don't play well, if I don't have gaudy statistics but we win multiple playoff games this year, the narrative will be I went to the next level and I may not walk off the field everyday feeling like I did but if we win, that's the life of a quarterback is you are at the next level. If I have my best year yet in 2018 but we're 8-8, I didn't go to the next level. That's the reality of it."

Last season, Cousins recorded the highest completion percentage (70.13) in history among quarterbacks who threw for more than 4,000 yards, 30 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, but Minnesota failed to make the playoffs, stumbling to an 8-7-1 finish.