Kirk Cousins’ return to Minnesota means more than the Vikings are saying

EAGAN, Minn. — This is going as expected. Vikings players and coaches are being asked about Kirk Cousins’ return to Minnesota, and their responses all sound the same.

Kevin O’Connell, the head coach, says he has tremendous respect for Cousins. Defensive coordinator Brian Flores called him a “great quarterback.” Offensive coordinator Wes Phillips is looking forward to chatting with Cousins before or after Sunday’s game. Safety Harrison Smith thinks it’ll be fun to face off against a friend.

Things are similar over yonder in Atlanta, where Cousins now plies his trade for the Falcons. The veteran quarterback wants people to know how thankful he is for the time he spent in Minnesota.

“You just feel so much gratitude for those people,” Cousins said. “That’s really the main emotion.”

Divorces between NFL teams and high-profile players aren’t always this cordial. You may remember when former Vikings cornerback Patrick Peterson intercepted a pass against the Arizona Cardinals, barked at the sideline and shredded the organization in a postgame interview.

But in this case, Minnesota did nothing wrong by Cousins. Nor did he leave the Vikings high and dry. The organization, searching for a loftier and more flexible future, offered him a lot of money to stick around after last season. Cousins, wanting more long-term security and a chance to contend, declined and signed with the Falcons.

In the aftermath, Minnesota’s ownership supplied a statement via news release. Cousins posted a thank-you video on social media. Then they separated, knowing this weekend in Minnesota eventually would come. Now that it’s here, the platitudes are being passed back and forth. It’s as if it doesn’t matter that the team Cousins left is vying for an NFC North title. It’s as if Cousins’ recent struggles are not notable.

But they are. All of this is. Buried beneath the gentle pleasantries are six years of highs, lows, moments, narratives and relationships — memories affecting this team, this town and Cousins himself.

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There is a story behind the last touchdown Cousins threw as a Viking.

It was the third quarter of the Week 8 matchup with the Packers in Green Bay. Minnesota had just intercepted Jordan Love, and the Vikings were pouring it on, leading 17-3. The interception put them in the red zone. O’Connell messaged in a designer shotgun play with receiver Jordan Addison lined up in the backfield.

Once Cousins caught the snap, Addison streaked up the seam in a one-on-one battle with cornerback Jaire Alexander. Cousins feathered a beauty into Addison’s hands, and upon seeing the converted touchdown, right tackle Brian O’Neill bear-hugged Cousins.

“I remember the night before that game,” O’Neill said earlier this fall. “Kevin said then, ‘If we get the ball in the high red zone, and we’ve already seen this look, Kirk will have JA, and it’ll be a touchdown no matter what.’”

It worked, and it was also broadly emblematic of the shared trust. Having been together for a year and a half at that point, O’Connell and Cousins had finally attained a distinct synergy. The joy on Cousins’ face during this post-play celebration was as much about the one throw as it was the arc that had led him to being in sync with his coach.

.@Espn_Jordan is the real deal.

📺: @NFLonFOX pic.twitter.com/fOAfO2Eb7O

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) October 29, 2023

When Cousins left Washington and Dan Snyder in early 2018, he was searching for a team that believed he could be an upper-echelon quarterback, a team willing to back that belief monetarily. The Vikings became that team.

Cousins signed a three-year, $84 million contract that was met even then with every type of emotion. Some celebrated. Some thought it was ridiculous. Others were ambivalent. Everyone had an opinion, a flame that would either be stoked or extinguished by the events of the next six years.

And where to begin? How about his 50-37-1 win-loss record? What about when he shoved former coach Mike Zimmer? Remember his comments during the COVID-19 pandemic? Or how he developed such a positive relationship with superstar receiver Justin Jefferson that Jefferson tweeted his support of him?

The Adam Thielen sideline spat deserves a footnote. So does the “Quarterback” documentary on Netflix, which endeared him to the masses. He threw for 4,000 yards in four of his five healthy Vikings seasons. He wore teammate Christian Darrisaw’s chains on a plane, and the video went viral. Cousins was revered by the community for his charity work, then maligned when he checked down in the 2022 wild-card game against the New York Giants.

Think of all the hits he took, all the throws he completed that made you fist-pump as you watched on television, all the poorly timed interceptions that made you bury your head in your hands. Think of the electrodes he hitched to his brain to try to be as good as he could be — and the time he spearheaded a jersey day for an NFL locker room of alphas. All of this and so much more preceded that final touchdown throw — and what happened after.

Later in that game at Lambeau Field, he crumbled to the turf. Teammates patted his beanie as he was carted to the locker room with a torn Achilles. After the game, O’Neill, whose NFL career aligned with Cousins’ arrival, choked up when he was asked about what losing Cousins meant.

“I mean …” he said before his voice trailed off.

“I have more respect for him than …” he began, then struggled to continue.

He shook his head and turned away. It was another poetic notch in Cousins’ topsy-turvy Vikings timeline. Hours after jumping up and down with O’Neill, after looking as happy as he ever had in purple, it seemed evident that his time in Minnesota might be done.

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After practice Wednesday, while sifting through his locker, O’Neill thought about what to say. He had been asked about squaring off against Cousins and about what this matchup means. He smiled.

“The Vikings are playing the Falcons on Sunday,” O’Neill said. “The only thing I care about is winning the game.”

It’s the appropriate response, another one that falls in line with expectations. It might even be the necessary mindset for players whose aspirations extend beyond this week. But there is more to it.

Moving on from Cousins this offseason was not easy for any of the Vikings’ decision-makers. Just like Cousins departing Minnesota for a four-year, $180 million contract was never a no-brainer. Both sides tried to make things work, but they couldn’t find an amicable middle ground. Again, Cousins was searching for a team that believed he could be an upper-echelon quarterback, a team willing to back that belief monetarily. This time, it was the Falcons.

The chapter ending does not mean the chapter has vanished. Cousins’ time with the Vikings is a major part of the team’s history. Feeling something on Sunday is an acknowledgment of that. A recognition, after all the good and the bad and the joy and the hurt, that those times brought the team to where it is today.

(Photo: Grant Halverson / Getty Images)