It was late Sunday afternoon, and the Minnesota Vikings had defeated the Miami Dolphins. Kirk Cousins stood up at the podium for his post-game press conference. He hadn’t played his best game, but the Vikings still got the win to improve to 5-1.
“To have these conversations after a win is so much more enjoyable than having these conversations after a loss,” Cousins said. “It’s very much the inverse of 2021. I would walk off the field after we had lost and say, ‘We’re playing so well, and somehow, some way, we lost.’ …This year, I’m saying, ‘Gosh, we could play better, but we won.’ It’s just kind of an inverse, and I’ll take this anyway.”
A couple of hours later, Cousins was on the team charter. Enamored by the empowerment of wearing Christian Darrisaw’s chain on the way home from London, Cousins’ teammates had pitched in, lending all of their chains to put around their quarterback’s neck. With a goofy grin on his face and ice everywhere, Cousins laughed as his teammates cheered and giddily posted videos to social media.
With double doinks, clutch turnovers, and backup quarterbacks everywhere, Cousins’ assessment of this year is accurate. His teammates are behind him, the coaching staff is supporting him, and the Vikings are legitimate contenders in the NFC.
All of this has to have Mike Zimmer at his ranch screaming like Jesse Pinkman. But this is a different team than we’ve seen before, and it’s because Cousins is embracing his inner Peyton Manning.
Just hear me out. For three quarters, Cousins looked like the quarterback who has convinced Vikings fans to pull their hair out. With three-and-outs and check-downs everywhere, some may have thought the Vikings were in for a Bad Kirk game. Maybe there was no way to pull themselves out of it.
The offensive line was allowing pressure up the middle, and the receivers weren’t getting open. The deciding point came on the first drive of the second half, where the Vikings got the ball on the Dolphins’ 34-yard line but proceeded to lose 12 yards on the next three plays.
After Justin Jefferson ran the wrong route on third down, Cousins marched to the sideline enraged and looked ready to air out his frustrations. In past years, he would have been greeted with an icy stare from Zimmer, but Kevin O’Connell walked over to be the voice of reason.
“We’re going to have some intense conversations,” Cousins said. “I’m going to give him my feedback, and he will give me his. I love when he coaches me hard and holds me to a high standard.”
This is the side of Cousins that makes him so effective on the field. He’s a cerebral assassin, ready to dissect any defense if they show him enough before the snap. A week earlier, Cousins shredded the Chicago Bears’ secondary by completing his first 18 passes, and he did so while calling his own plays at the line of scrimmage.
It’s the type of thing that has Cousins storming into a locker room and screaming, “YOU LIKE THAT?” at a group of reporters. Cousins wants things to go perfectly, sometimes to his detriment.
But while he doesn’t have the level of success that Manning found during his career, there is one common thread – they’re both nerds.
Nobody is going to throw on a Cousins jersey to make a music video. Cousins will probably never be on the cover of Madden. His FOX graphic looks like he’s giving his best attempt at perfecting an Eric Zoolander look. He’s Scrooge McDuck swimming in a vault full of Kohl’s Cash, and he’s not afraid to admit it.
“I would agree, anything that I do is no longer cool,” Cousins said in an appearance on Pardon My Take. “When I wear the plaid button down to Week 1, it looks like I got it from Kohl’s. But if Jefferson wears that same plaid button-down to next week’s press conference, everybody in Minnesota is buying a plaid button-down. I’m fully aware of that.”
Cousins seems to have a point. When he hit The Griddy in a Week 17 win over the Detroit Lions in 2020, it appeared to be the beginning of the end for Jefferson’s iconic dance. By the time he did it again, the entire league had taken a hatchet to one of the best celebrations in sports.
Even the sight of Cousins wearing six chains on a plane ride back to Minneapolis is more hilarious than it is cool – and it’s the exact type of thing that endeared Manning to his teammates.
Manning is known as one of the most cerebral quarterbacks in league history. His demand for perfection was just as legendary, and it got to the point where it broke some of his teammates.
In a 2016 interview with the Denver Post, Cody Latimer admitted that Manning’s presence made him nervous. It could have been a reason why he lasted just four seasons (and only 35 receptions) with the Denver Broncos.
“I was very hesitant,” Lattimer said. “[I] was worried about what everybody thought. Was Peyton going to be mad? Was coach going to be mad? I was very nervous out there…coming out [as a] second-round pick, I’m like, ‘I can’t mess up. I don’t want to mess up.’ Things like that…it was pressure for me. It was more of a mental thing, and it messed with me.”
Cousins is unlikely to reach that level of intimidation, but when Manning stepped off the gridiron, he was just as big of a dork.
Manning loves light beer and making fun of himself at every opportunity. It turned into a couple of appearances on Saturday Night Live and eventually got him and his brother Eli their own simulcast for Monday Night Football.
Even if Cousins doesn’t give off Peyton vibes, he has the same energy as Eli playing flip cup at the bar while wearing matching polos with Daniel Jones. He has turned into football’s ultimate dad, and everyone has taken notice.
This kind of thing is endearing to teammates and something that may not have been tolerated under the previous regime. At this time last year, Cousins was answering press conference questions like he was in an interrogation room. It wouldn’t have been a surprise if Zimmer was watching on the other side, ready to break through the glass if he even hinted at what was going on in the locker room.
Now, Cousins is the man. He’s wearing three times the chains as a prominent rapper. His teammates are calling him “Big Kirko” and “Mr. Icee.” He might land in the doghouse when he gets home. Who cares? He’s having the time of his life.
That’s a huge contrast to where he was a year ago. It could also help him accomplish what both Mannings have done – win a Super Bowl.
