Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins is having a moment

Not that winning changes everything, but Kirk Cousins these days is trying on diamond-crusted chains, running like he stole something, eating drive-thru ButterBurgers, teasing himself, needling beat writers and frequently flashing a smile that doesn't look like it was painted on by a public relations expert.

Cousins is back in the greater Washington D.C. area Sunday to face the team that cut him loose so the Vikings could sign him. His timing is ideal.

Washington has become a cesspool of an organization and a human-sized recycling bin for overestimated, underdeveloped, underdog and simply bad quarterbacks.

The Vikings are 6-1 with Cousins making clutch plays in an offense he is still learning, under former Washington assistant coach Kevin O'Connell.

He has yet to conclusively prove that the Vikings made the right decision in investing $150 million in him, but he has proven that Washington would have benefited from keeping his ability and durability in their building.

Asked this week why he didn't remain with the Commanders, Cousins said, "I would say there's probably a combination of reasons. I think anytime you go .500, you know — it's a league where you've got to win."

That's the conundrum for Cousins and every NFL quarterback who hasn't won a championship.

It's unreasonable to pin every game result on the quarterback, but it's impossible, over time, not to judge quarterbacks on game results.

Good quarterbacks can't overcome bad circumstances. Confirmation of that comes again this year in the struggles of Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady and Russell Wilson — two certain Hall of Famers and a player whose move to Denver might damage his candidacy if he doesn't start winning.

But great quarterbacks usually find a way to elevate their franchises over time.

Cousins is 6-1 for the first time in his career and making what can only be defined as winning plays. His statistics are not up to his usual standard — a modest 11 touchdown passes, five interceptions — but that's mainly because he threw three interceptions in the Vikings' one loss at Philadelphia.

Cousins has had one season similar to this. In 2019, the Vikings started 6-2 and finished in the divisional round, losing to San Francisco after a playoff victory in New Orleans.

Cousins was 26-30-1 with Washington. He is 39-30-1 with the Vikings. The 34-year-old's overall record in his 11 seasons: 66-63-2, including a 1-3 record in the playoffs.

You can conclude that he has played better with a better supporting cast in Minnesota, or that he remains without a signature postseason run that would forever improve his reputation. Both would be correct.

In that regard, nothing has really changed for Cousins. Except, maybe, his personality.

Teammates say he's been the same since he arrived in 2018, but there is evidence to the contrary.

Outsiders have never before seen him wearing teammates' chains and laughing about it. We've never seen him dive headlong for a pylon to score while outrunning a linebacker, as he did last week against Arizona.

We've rarely seen him force a pass into double coverage while trusting a receiver to make a play, as he did last week on a key third-down play to Justin Jefferson. (Stefon Diggs forced a trade from the Vikings in part because Cousins wouldn't exhibit that kind of trust in him.)

A few witnesses say Cousins' altered demeanor could be best exemplified by two appearances at the Twin Cities Dunkers meetings that feature sports celebrities.

When Cousins made his first Dunkers appearance, in 2018, he was a stone-faced proselytizer, talking almost exclusively about his religious beliefs.

Last week, when he made another appearance, he talked about how much he's enjoying the Vikings' new coaching staff and front office, and said he even broke his dietary discipline to celebrate a recent victory with a drive-thru double ButterBurger at Culver's.

Longtime teammates Dalvin Cook and C.J. Ham said this week that Cousins has always been that way. "Winning and losing can make things look different from the outside," Ham said. "But he's always had that type of personality. He's always been a funny guy."

Publicly, Cousins seems unburdened by the Vikings' sweeping changes. He and former coach Mike Zimmer could barely tolerate each other by 2021. O'Connell is able to coach Cousins intensely, even on the sideline after bad plays, without creating tension.

"I like being coached hard," Cousins said after the Vikings won at Miami.

The next 10 games and presumably the playoffs could provide a defining test for Cousins. Can he take a good, winning team and elevate it to postseason success?

That's the challenge for a winning quarterback, whether it's fair or not.

And if the Vikings keep winning, Cousins could keep trying out jewelry and fast-food joints.

"You've got to win football games in this league to be like that," he said. "You don't do that after losses. You have to have some decorum after losses. But when you win, it carries a different feeling."