In Week 8, Kirk Cousins injured himself at the end of a 14-yard, 60-yard drive. Preston Smith sacked him for nine yards on second-and-10 from the Green Bay Packers’ 13-yard line. Kenny Clark technically recorded a four-yard sack on the next play, but Cousins injured his Achilles tendon on the Lambeau Field grass. Few will remember that Karl Brooks blocked Greg Joseph’s 44-yard field goal on the next play.
It was hard not to be consumed by the sideline and lose focus on the play on the field. Cousins hobbled to the blue tent. Someone backed the medical cart for what felt like miles to pick him up and carry him away. A week after his best game of the season and amidst the Minnesota Vikings’ only two-score win of the season, Cousins had played his last down of 2023. In one moment, he was leading Minnesota to a 24-10 victory in Lambeau. The next, he disappeared into the darkness. The Vikings entered the void in his absence.
Everyone remembers Joshua Dobbs’ rise in Atlanta, and his fall in Denver. The Monday night fiasco and the hospital ball he threw to Justin Jefferson upon Jefferson’s return in Vegas. Nick Mullens entered the Las Vegas Raiders game to produce the only score in a 3-0 victory, but old friend Jake Browning beat Mullens and the Vikings in Cincinnati the following week. The Detroit Lions beat them to win their first division title since taking the NFC Central, which included the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in 1993. The Packers polished them off, 33-10, on Sunday night.
“Really not much to say other than we got outplayed and this all — I got to do a much better job clearly preparing our team,” Kevin O’Connell said after the game. “Early on the execution offensively could have been much better, and defensively we put them on the field far too much. Green Bay had success on offense to maintain possession of the football. This is going to be one that we really got to take a long look at.”
Given everything that has transpired since Cousins’ injury, you’ll be forgiven for forgetting the details of Hall’s brief appearance in Green Bay. Hall went 3/4 for 23 yards on three drives, but Preston Smith strip-sacked him on his first drive. He threw short of the sticks on third-and-eight on his second drive, forcing a punt. His final two plays were kneel-downs. Hall lasted 11 plays in Atlanta before suffering a concussion while scrambling on third-and-goal from the four-yard line.
In some ways, it’s fitting that he made the start against the Packers in Week 17. The Vikings controlled their playoff fate, so it was a meaningful game. Minnesota believed Hall gave them the best chance to win after Mullens threw four interceptions against Detroit. But they removed Hall after he went 5/10 and threw an interception in the first half. He had fewer yards passing (67) in two quarters than the 78 yards he threw for in Atlanta. It was an odd addendum to an increasingly strange season.
“You have to learn from it,” said Hall. “You have a long road ahead, and there’s a lot you learn when you actually play, and there’s a lot you can’t learn any other way. You have to learn the easy way, and usually, you want to learn with the wins. But sometimes you have to learn the hard way, and that would be the case for me tonight.”
Minnesota’s 0-3 start feels like a long time ago. So does their 19-17 win in Chicago without Justin Jefferson and the five-game win streak that ensued. The Vikings are 1-6 since then. Cousins and his son Cooper emerged above the lower bowl at US Bank Stadium, took off their shirts, and blew the Gjallorhorn. Then they disappeared behind the curtain from which they came.
