With Playoffs on the Line, Vikings Fans Contemplate Life without 2 Main Playmakers

Vikings Fan Contemplate Life without 2 Main Playmakers
Dalvin Cook

The Minnesota Vikings hold 28% odds to reach the playoffs right now in the 2021 NFL season, showcasing a 7-7 record through 15 weeks.

If they want to make the January dance, they’ll continue the quest this Sunday without running back Dalvin Cook – and possibly quarterback Kirk Cousins.

The Vikings host the Los Angeles Rams (10-4) this Sunday, a team rostering talents like Aaron Donald, Jalen Ramsey, Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp, and Odell Beckham.

Cook, who is unvaccinated, will now miss at least 10 days of action, leaving fans and teammates with the hope he will return in Week 17 for the showdown in Green Bay.

On Kirk Cousins, well, he appeared on the team’s injury report with a rib ailment. Cousins has not been on an injury report for eight years – until Wednesday.

Cook is out-out, not returning at all until January 2, 2022, at the earliest. In relief, Alexander Mattison gets the RB1 nod with a side dish of rookie Kene Nwangwu. Enter the Wu, indeed.

Life without Cook is nothing new for the Vikings. The Florida State alumnus has missed 31% of all Vikings games since joining the team in 2017. About one-third of the time, Minnesota is Dalvin-less on autumn weekends. In that regard, head coach Mike Zimmer has plenty of experience game-planning without Cook. The endeavor in 2021 is just so tricky because the offense is notorious for anemic spells. Cook helps tame those stretches. Hell, against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday Night Football, Cook dragged the team to a humongous 29-0 lead – an advantage needed as the Vikings nearly coughed the game away.

Cousins will probably play, though. However, when his name shows up on an injury report, it’s a big deal, chiefly because his name never shows on such documents. Indeed, something particularly noteworthy must be ailing Cousins as he is otherwise a mini-Iron Man, although no one tends to afford him such credit.

Vikings fans already know this weekend’s game will be the Cousins-Mattison-Jefferson-maybe-Thielen show. There is still a pathway to victory with that lineup. But a Mannion-Mattison-Jefferson-maybe-Thielen recipe is not beating the mighty Rams. If the Vikings did win, it would be remembered in Vikings lore for decades.

Sean Mannion
Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

So, Vikings fans, sitting around their Christmas trees, must prepare for a team certainly without Cook and potentially sans Cousins. If a rip-roaring defense arrived in Week 16, that’d be swell. Yet, no such defense has been evident to date in 2021. Zimmer’s defense is a group of players who play fairly well most of the time — while collapsing at the end halves. And that formula isn’t enviable.

No matter what happens versus the Rams, the Vikings must also consider a game at Lambeau Field without Cook. Per his 10-day quarantine, Cook will be slated to return just one day before Vikings-Packers. But that’s assuming all goes swimmingly for Cook’s recovery.

Vikings loyalists are accustomed to things not going swimmingly, a Murphy’s Law of sorts about, well, everything Vikings-related.

The Rams are favored to defeat the Vikings by three points.

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).


Vikings Should Call Old Friend for Stretch Run

Vikings Territory Also Read: Vikings Should Call Old Friend for Stretch Run


Share: