The Minnesota Vikings traded a third-round pick to the Las Vegas Raiders for Kirk Cousins so he could be the team’s starting quarterback, but whether he will be just five days after the deal against a stout Green Bay Packers‘ defense at Lambeau Field remains an unanswered question.
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell spoke with reporters on Wednesday, November 11, one day after new general manager Nolan Teasley reunited him with his former starting quarterback. During that media session, O’Connell refrained from fully committing to Cousins as the starter in Week 10.
“Kevin O’Connell said ‘it’s still too early to commit wholeheartedly to what the plan looks like’ at QB for the Vikings on Sunday,” Ben Goessling of the Star Tribune reported on X. “He said he’s excited about ‘spending every moment between now and then’ to get Kirk Cousins comfortable enough to play. ‘That’s what we’re working toward.'”
Vikings QB Kirk Cousins Spoke About Challenges of Starting Same Week as Changing Teams
Cousins also met with media Wednesday, during which he acknowledged the difficulty of picking up a system mid-week and playing just days later, even if one is already well familiarized with many of the core concepts, as Cousins happens to be with O’Connell’s offense given the two years they spent together in Minnesota previously.
“We’re diving in and gonna make the most use of our time,” Cousins said. “I remember when we traded for TJ [Hockenson] in 2022 and thinking I didn’t envy him at that time, you know, how much he had to do and how much he had to get caught up on and the effort the coaches put in to help him. And I find myself in a similar role today.”
The QB added that as important as it is to immerse himself in study and on-field work over the next few days, the goal isn’t about information accumulation for specific reference during the upcoming game in Green Bay.
Rather, the actual goal is re-internalizing as much of the offense as possible so he can react moment to moment without overthinking.
“You can’t play this position if it’s not instinctive, and so just trying to make everything as instinctive as you can possibly do so you’re just reacting and playing rather than thinking,” Cousins continued.
Kyler Murray Likely QB2 Behind Kirk Cousins if Healthy
If the Vikings do not go with Cousins for some reason, the assumption is that Kyler Murray will be the next option.
Minnesota sat Murray against the Buffalo Bills on “Monday Night Football” two days ago due to so-called hamstring tightness, though several analysts around the league considered that a soft benching in favor of Carson Wentz given how much Murray had struggled. Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reported on Wednesday that the Vikings did, in fact, soft bench Murray.
That said, Wentz was even worse than Murray has been at really any point this season. He completed just 8-of-25 passes and threw two interceptions against a Bills defense that hasn’t scared any opponent much to this point in the season but looked dominant in Minnesota.
Given Wentz’s performance, Murray is likely to enter the upcoming weekend as QB2, assuming that he is healthy enough to do so. And if Minnesota decides to cut bait with one of its signal-callers, Wentz now figures to be the frontrunner for the unemployment line as well.
Vikings Send Mixed Messages on Kirk Cousins’ Status vs. Packers