Kirk Cousins
As the NFL tabulates players visiting the ominous COVID reserve list at a viral pace, the Minnesota Vikings are not immune.
On Friday, news broke that quarterback Kirk Cousins contracted the virus, disabling his participation in a Sunday Night Football game that will decide if the Vikings playoff hopes live or die.
Cousins is notoriously unvaccinated, meaning his probability of a) contracting the virus b) being hospitalized due to the virus — spike. Both vaccinated and unvaccinated players are affected by COVID, but there’s a special place of scorn for the unvaccinated. Vaccines — one of the greatest inventions by humankind ever — are not everyone’s forte, evidently.
Sprinkle in the Cousins COVID news with his already lightning-rod persona for criticism, and the world was on fire with anti-Cousins musings on Friday. Because so many professional athletes are beset by the virus, it was as if media members had their Cousins opinions all ready to share with the world weeks ago. Behold, he has COVID, and those folks were off to the races.
It’s up to you to decide if they are fair or outlandish.
This columnist unleashed his Cousins thoughts with meaty adverb and adjectives to start the party:
Here, a gentleman also indicts the Vikings personnel who brought Cousins to Minnesota in the first place:
His employer piggybacked with Dump Kirk Cousins Now:
Across the river, a lighthearted joke accompanied the festivities:
Pro Football Talk reminded the masses of Cousins’ 2022 salary on a day when controversy swirled about Minnesota’s signal-caller:
“Storyteller” Shiv opined, too:
On the contrary to Shiv’s declaration that Cousins is not clutch, the Vikings quarterback has been rather clutch as of late, by the numbers:
And finally, here’s the implication Cousins prefers catching the coronavirus at an inopportune time:
One can debate the scientific and medical merits of vaccination responsibility amid a pandemic that has killed 5,300,000 million people worldwide. As a matter of football timing, though, Cousins was unlikely to play Sunday — with or without vaccination. Plus, if he follows others players’ recovery trajectories, he’ll be back for Week 18 versus the Chicago Bears.
And all of this uproar was before Betty White passed away at age 99. What a day.
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).