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Sansevere: Chuck Foreman Wouldn’t Get into a Huddle with Kirk Cousins

By Bob Sansevere

If Vikings legend Chuck Foreman was playing today, he would refuse to play with Kirk Cousins.

It’s nothing professional. It’s personal.

Foreman, who is vaccinated, won’t get close up with Cousins, who is not. And it’s not just Cousins. Foreman has an issue with all players, Vikings or otherwise, who have chosen not to be vaccinated against COVID 19.

“In my opinion, unvaccinated players are being unreasonable and selfish,” Foreman told the St. Paul Pioneer Press in an interview conducted by me.

“It’s my opinion, but I wouldn’t get in the huddle with Cousins. The guy’s not vaccinated. So, I think it would be a problem for me, personally.”

Foreman, who last played in the NFL in 1980 after helping lift the Vikings to three Super Bowls, has been impressed with the offseason upgrades made by coach Mike Zimmer and general manager Rick Spielman. It’s the unreasonable and selfish team members such as Cousins, Adam Thielen, and safety Harrison Smith that he believes will lead to an unsuccessful season.

“I’m sticking with my prediction of a 6-11 season for the Vikings,” Foreman told the Pioneer Press. “The Vikings certainly have the talent to have a winning season. However, I think with what’s going on with COVID and most of the guys in the leadership roles not taking the vaccine, I don’t know how you manage that.

“I think there will be some issues, especially if somebody gets infected and throws off the whole team. Then guys start missing paychecks. It’s going to create some problems in the locker room.”

Among those problems, Foreman told the newspaper, is that teams can be forced to forfeit games due to unvaccinated players spreading COVID.

“I really don’t know if a team can recover from a forfeit,” Foreman said. “If I’ve been vaccinated and we’ve got guys that haven’t been and then we’ve got to forfeit, I’m losing a big check and they are big checks now. They aren’t like when I played; maybe a game check was $2,500 bucks. Now I’m talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars that most guys are making per game. And, so that’s going to have an effect on the team and the outcome of the season. I really believe that.”

Foreman said he understands that many people object to being vaccinated and that it some work environments it wouldn’t be an issue. But not in football, not in the NFL.

“I mean, I certainly have no problem with them in their own personal decisions,” he said. “I understand that part of it, but this is a game that requires everybody to be on board. You can’t have three, four or five different people going in different directions. I just don’t see how it can work, especially when there are guys (unvaccinated) in the leadership roles. If you’re not on board, then the best thing for you to do is step away and let the team move forward without those types of problems. Potential problems.”

To illustrate his issue with getting into a huddle with Cousins, Foreman recalled when he played and would be tackled.

“I can remember getting tackled and guys are on top of me. And when they would breathe, I could tell who had what type of alcohol, like, “Man, what were you drinking last night?” I’m serious. You can smell it. This is how hard they’re breathing,” Foreman said.

In other words, after a play, opponents and teammates still are breathing hard and he is concerned an infected player potentially could spread COVID in the huddle.

“I just want to reemphasize: Hey, whatever you do, I have no problem with that. But you can’t expect me to get in the huddle with you, especially if I’m vaccinated and I’m thinking a certain way,” Foreman said.

“This is going to be (Mike) Zimmer’s toughest coaching job. Now, he’s got to worry if one of the guys is going to be exposing themselves to people, or whether their family has been exposed to somebody. Then they’ve got to come to practice. There’s so many different things that aren’t the norm. So, there are problems. That’s not really a part of the normal part of the game.”

“If you’re not vaccinated, then you’ve got a bigger chance of going (out of games sick). I’m just saying that now, besides worrying about the team you’re going to play against, you’ve got to worry about your teammates and what they’re going to do to stay healthy and keep you from being unhealthy. It’s a difficult situation. And especially in this kind of game, it can’t work.”

(Bob Sansevere hosts the daily podcast “The BS Show” that also is broadcast on radio stations in Duluth (WDSM), Hibbing (WNMT), St. Cloud (WBHR) and Worthington (the RadioWorks Network). He also co-hosts the weekly JimBob Sports Jamboree with Vikings legend Chuck Foreman and Fox 9’s Jim Rich; that show can be heard on about a dozen radio stations across Minnesota. And he will be returning to the KQ Morning Show, where he spent more than 30 years, to give weekly Vikings updates.)

Bob Sansevere

Bob Sansevere hosts a daily podcast, The BS Show, which also is broadcast on radio stations in Duluth (KDAL), Hibbing (WNMT) and St. Cloud (WBHR). He also writes occasional columns for the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Tags: chuck foreman kirk cousins minnesota vikings Minnesota vikings news minnesota vikings players MN Vikings Vikings Vikings News

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  • If it was truly an effective treatment I might be able to accept that position. Otherwise you are the selfish one Chuck. My body, my choice. I will not participate in the governments experiment regarding the COVID-19 treatment.

    • It truly is an effective treatment - in fact, it's THREE effective treatments, since there are three vaccines. It's not the government's experiment - it's government FUNDED. A large thanks there to former president Trump, who I suspect you voted for. He developed operation "Warp Speed" in order to get the vaccines developed quicker. He actually supported, along with Sarah Sanders, calling it the Trump Vaccine.) Anyway, the vaccines were developed by three independent pharmaceutical companies, not the goverment.

      It is indeed your body, your choice. No one is disputing that. But it's the wrong choice. Because people who don't get vaccinated are actively spreading the virus and killing people. Which, again, is your choice.

      • Wake up buddy. It's the right choice for many people to trust their immune systems. I'm a devout Trump supporter. But I will never take a vaccination tjat was approved by the wife of Anthony Fauci. The biggest fraud in this whole scam. She is also the woman that approved fentanyl, and Ixycintin for 11 year olds. Wake up. Follow the money. God Bless Kirk Cousins! No way in hell should he take a vaccine for a virus tbat has a 99.67% cure rate.

          • How come ICUs all over the country are full of dying people. People who are/were just as enlightened as you?

          • Yes they are full of dying people, but is definitely not all covid as you are insinuating. Furthermore I am sure your #'s are not considering the over # of beds the hospitals will leave empty purposely due to the fact they don't have the staff #'s required to use their full capacity.

          • Scott Apley, an unvaccinated member of the Texas State Republican Executive Committee, had celebrated ‘mask burnings’, mocked Covid and called vaccines the enemy of the people. He also mocked other COVID-19 safety measures for months on his social media accounts before being admitted to a hospital with pneumonia-like symptoms. His unvaccinated wife also became infected. Apley died recently, just five days after sharing anti-vaccine content on Facebook. It was revealed he tested positive for COVID following his final post.

            This is just one of a number of examples of vocal anti-vax leaders dropping dead from Covid.

            So wake up and get vaccinated. Your immune system protection isn't necessarily as strong as you think. Darwin lives.

        • Is there any other Trump supporter than “devout”? Cult member, your opinion is heard.

        • A devout Trumper that believes in anti-vax conspiracy theories, imagine that. *sigh*
          God bless you, sounds like you'll need it.

        • Well tell all those people who trusted there immune system to protect them from the virus, who have died or are dying rightnow!! how that immune system is working for them. When you hear them begging for air while being bed ridden hooked up to a machine! And since your so devoted to trump, he just had a speech in Alabama asking his followers to go get the vaccine, that's facts! He even admitted to getting it and he said his followers should get as well. You sound pretty ignorant! If the government wanted to kill its citizens they don't need to do it with a vaccine shot, you can be killed in different ways.

      • Jack, by the way it's the VACCINATED people that do to us to get and spread the virus. Do your truthful research.

      • I bet you weren't defending the vaccine when the Dems had a problem with it before the election.

        • Their only "problem" with it before the election - and I haven't voted for either a Republican or a Democrat in a partisan election since 1984 - was that they wouldn't take it if ONLY Trump endorsed it. If the CDC endorsed it, they were fine with taking it.

    • Oh Jeff, I'm SURE you would jump in line to receive ' experimental treatment' at the hospital if u contact the virus and can't f'n breathe.

    • You think you know more than the medical professionals? Did you attend medical school? No you are truly the selfish one my friend. If everyone would get on board this would be a non-issue but we are continuing to have problems it's costing this country millions if not billions of extra dollars in healthcare which is unnecessary. every ICU bed in the county I live is full right now and it's unnecessary. If the unvaccinated had to pay their own hospital bill should they come down with covid I think we'd see a big change but that will never happen. Government experiment? Come on

      • Medical errors are the third-leading cause of death in the United States, behind heart disease and cancer. It equates to over 250,000 deaths per year.

        The protocol that is being used in hospitals for covid are most hospitals is the wrong road. The road leads to the ventilator and 80% of all the people who go on one dies. The CDC and NIH has never tried or studied a treatment protocol. 85% of all the 600,000 plus that "died" from covid could have been saved. That should make you angry. It will not since you are hooked on the system like a junkie. The vaccine clouded all good judgment and now we find out that it does not work and actually kills people. The CDC has recorded in the VAERS system as of last Friday. They have now recorded 13,627 deaths, 2,826,646 injuries, and 1,429 fetal deaths from pregnant women who took a COVID shot.
        They also report 17,794 permanent disabilities, 74,369 emergency room visits, 55,821 hospitalizations, and 14,104 life-threatening events from just the vaccine. If you got your jab then than God you made it.

        WHY? Modern medicine lost most of the independent doctors from Obama Care. The majority of care is delivered by large systems that the administrators tell doctors how they are going to deliver medical care. If you don't produce dollars or you do not follow their protocol you will be fired. So they go along.

        Think about it this way. If you showed up at the hospital with health issues they would treat you. People were told when they had covid symptoms to stay the hell home and isolate until you are real sick before they would ever try to treat you. Many times it was too late. Great system don't you think?

  • Why do these idiot writers come out with these stupid articles that don't mean squad today?

    • This article does mean "squad", relative to the upcoming season. The Vikings have the lowest vaccination rate of any team in the league. This has general significance as it relates to a disease that has killed 4.5 million worldwide. It also has football-specific significance - if Cousins or someone else catches COVID, they miss games. That is bad for the Vikings.

      So, yeah, it's newsworthy.

    • If you are going to make your living using the English language then how about using it properly. Your very first sentence is Subjunctive Mood (in opposition to fact). It should read "If Vikings legend Chuck Foreman were playing today..."

      By the way, hooray for Chuck Foreman. He's absolutely right.

  • Group-think propaganda such as this article is the downfall of the United States of America. Remember when people were free to decide if they wanted a vaccine or not?

    The only selfish thing here is trying to force everyone else to think the way you do.

    • Never happened. George Washington mandated smallpox inoculation during the revolutionary war. You should know that “George Washington”.

    • Yeah, I remember when people were free to decide if they wanted a vaccine or not. As in, I remember today. As in, people are free to decide if they want a vaccine or not. Just as Chuck Foreman and anyone else is free to call that decision selfish or just flat-out silly. It's called freedom of speech, which includes freedom to rip on Kirk Cousins for not getting vaccinated. Pretty sure George Washington was a fan of that. What about you? YOU LIKE THAT?

      • Yup, Chuck can think what he wants and Bob can write about it. Too bad I wasted my time reading. Who cares what Chuck thinks.

    • George Washington above might be confused about what is and isn’t American. Remember when we, the founders, quarantined large swathes of the population and mandated cutting edge vaccines for the entirety of our continental fighting force? Remember when I, the love of libertarians everywhere, mandated vaccines for the entire quasi nation-state of Virginia? Man, it would be embarrassing for you to forget that, or for our future citizens to so unjustly misrepresent our stances in such a way. Besides, much like in 2021, during the revolution, by getting the vaccine you lowered the rate of transmission as well as lowered mortality, as a result the majority of those dead were those who feared science or used a selfish platform of caring about their ‘rights’ with no care to their responsibilities. You know, like teenagers then and now. Sorry, George, I think you may have forgotten some basic, important parts of yours and our lives, or else someone is quietly trying to pretend to be you with literally no knowledge of who you were, what your values were, or what you fought for. Which would be quite embarrassing for that person

  • Chuck is vaccinated, what is he worrying about?
    This is chick just being an ahole. This isn't any of your business Chuck.
    I suggest Chuck learn what the Nuremberg Code is and HIPAA. Then chuck will be properly educated.

  • Foreman is right when it comes to putting the team first,52 players could lose one or more paychecks because of one selfish player that refuses to be vaccinated !! totally different from people NOT IN SPORTS,to say yea or nea to be vaccinated

  • Why do you think the vaccine doesn't work? 90 percent of new infections are unvaccinated people ...pretty simple math

    • You do realize many more vaccinated folks are infected infected just are asymptomatic and don't seek medical attention. Furthermore the so-called vaccinated are equally able to transmit covid and all its varriants.

  • If tbat vaccine actually works??? Then why should anyone be worried about someone else getting vaccinated? Chuck is a nice guy, but nobody has the right to tell another person wjat tbey should willfully inject Into their bodies. Period. Vaccinate away, but don't tell me to flow you. God bmess Kirk Cousins, and every other pwrson with the courage to stand his/her ground and make the decision they feel best for themselves and their families.

  • Sansevere, you are a no talent hack. Go back to kissing Tommy B's butt and being his little lap dog.