Vikings Somber Win Over Packers Comes At Cost, Kirk Cousins Seemingly Out for the Season

The Minnesota Vikings put the Green Bay Packers away 24-10. Though a rivalry win is often story enough, Vikings fans instead came away thinking about the Achilles injury to Kirk Cousins.

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The Minnesota Vikings finally secured a multi-score win — a 24-10 outing against division rival Green Bay Packers — and it happened to be the costliest game of the season.

Kirk Cousins continued his run of excellent play following the Monday Night Football game against the San Francisco 49ers with an outstanding performance, marred by drops, against the Green Bay Packers.

Through three quarters, the Vikings should have scored more than 24 points off the level of play we saw from the offensive line and Cousins. And his performance through two games should have given fans confidence going forward that they’d successfully turn the season around after an 0-3 start.

Truly, Cousins was playing some of the best football of his life at 34 years old, let down primarily by his defense in the first few games and the receiving corps following that.

Instead, a non-contact injury in the fourth quarter to Cousins cast a pall over the win. He limped off the field, entered the blue medical tent and then was carted into the locker room. Because Vikings backup quarterback Nick Mullens was on injured reserve, that meant rookie Jaren Hall entered the game.

Hall had his struggles, though he managed to extend the drive on his second possession with some solid throws despite the pressure. That was enough to force the Packers into hurrying their process on their final possession and helped secure that two-score lead.

The Vikings, .500 on the season, are no longer considered to be sellers on the trade market. But it’s now hard to imagine them as buyers as the deadline approaches. After clawing their way back into contention, with an undefeated record in the division, the Vikings are more uncertain than they were at 0-3.

Kirk Cousins Evaluated for Achilles

Kevin O’Connell told Ben Leber at KFAN after the game that Cousins was being evaluated for an Achilles injury, something he repeated in his postgame presser. This was confirmed independently by the Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling and ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

That accords with what we’ve seen on video watching the injury occur in real time and the tone with which O’Connell addressed the media. In all honesty, it looks more like the Vikings will be using the MRI to diagnose the severity of the injury rather than the nature of it.

“[Cousins has been playing] the best football of his career and quite honestly, he continues to be such a major force,” O’Connell told KFAN “I feel like when I’m calling it and he’s out there playing the way he has, the offense can be successful regardless of circumstance.”

If so, Cousins would be out for the rest of the year, and there’s a good chance he’s thrown his last pass in a Vikings uniform. The Vikings are not in a situation like Indianapolis or Carolina, where their quarterbacks are backed up by capable almost-starters.

Instead, with Mullens on injured reserve, they may have to rely on Hall to finish out the season. When asked by KFAN if Hall was going to be the plan for the rest of the season, O’Connell didn’t commit – instead emphasizing the leadership Cousins provides and the resiliency of the locker room.

At the moment, contemporary reports from the locker room, including from the Athletic’s Alec Lewis and the Star Tribune’s Andrew Krammer and Chip Scoggins, is somber and upset.

By Monday, the team will be forced to emotionally process it and work through the grief, like they did in 2016 with Teddy Bridgewater and 2011 with Adrian Peterson. With few exceptions, these aren’t the same players, but it is the same process. It’s inevitable.

O’Connell suggested as much, and there’s no reason not to believe him.

Is This Who the Vikings Are?

It seems particularly short-sighted and overly local to say that this could only happen to the Vikings. Injuries occur across the league – Aaron Rodgers experienced the same injury in New York and has missed time with the Packers for other injuries.