Kirk Cousins Has COVID, and Kellen Mond Is Unlikely to Start
What a morning.
With the season on the line – although, the Vikings are unlikely to reach the playoffs regardless – Kirk Cousins landed on the COVID reserve list, disqualifying his participation on Sunday Night Football at the Green Bay Packers.
Insert rookie Kellen Mond at quarterback, right? Nope.
Mond was drafted in the 3rd Round of the 2021 NFL Draft, playing in the preseason and looking incredibly raw as a prospect. For about 20 minutes after the Cousins COVID news broke, Mond seemed perhaps in the driver’s seat to experience his first NFL start.
Yet, the Vikings coaching staff has other plans. Sean Mannion, who is recovering from COVID, too, is on track to start for the Vikings at Lambeau Field.
In a tell-all game for head coach Mike Zimmer – who most believe is planted on a proverbial hot seat – Minnesota is trending to start a veteran over the rookie Mond.
Mannion, despite playing in the NFL since 2015, has never thrown a regular season touchdown pass.
Sunday night’s game is slated for historic cold, with temperatures forecasted in the single digits. It’s tempting to believe “that happens all the time,” but it does not. In the last decade, just six games have transpired in the NFL with a temperate of 10 degrees or below (thermometer temperature, not wind chill).
Ergo, Mannion will likely make his third-ever start in one of the coldest games in recent memory. He’s a West Coast dude, born in San Jose, California, playing his college football at Oregon State. It is unlikely that he is overly familiar with the cold.
Mannion last started in Week 17 of the 2019 season against the Chicago Bears when the Vikings already secured a playoff bid.
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On Cousins, if his symptoms improve, he’ll be on pace to return for Week 18, a home game versus the Chicago Bears. But if Mannion doesn’t find a rabbit in his helmet, the Vikings-Bears game will be meaningless for playoff implication – as usual for that game. The Vikings and Bears have played at U.S. Bank Stadium in the final week of the season for six consecutive years.
So, the faint heartbeat of the Vikings season comes down to Sean Mannion – not Kirk Cousins, Kellen Mond, or recently-signed Kyle Sloter.
Whoodathunk it, huh?
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
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