The Vikings Browbeat the Packers But Lose Captain Kirk in the Process
Vikings Territory Breakdown
Last Monday night the Vikings outplayed a very good San Francisco 49ers team to save their season. Check. This week, they went to Lambeau Field to take on the Green Packers with a chance to get to.500 on the year and vault back into playoff contention. Check again. But at the point when the win was nearly in hand that shining light of hope was dashed as quarterback Kirk Cousins stepped wrong on the Lambeau grass, tore his Achilles tendon and was lost for the season. Pro football gives and takes away in an instant.
The Vikings beat the Packers 24-10 and that score does not do the win justice (a two-score win for the Vikings is a blowout, okay). The Vikings held the Packers to three-and-outs in their first four possessions and negative passing yardage and no first downs late into the second quarter. The Vikings dominated on the road in Lambeau, and the future for this team this season was suddenly wide open. The schedule reported eases up and a run for the playoffs for a team with a vastly improving defense was definitely back on the table. But that table was suddenly trashed like card tables in Buffalo Bills tailgate parking lots.
The Vikings won, but it is difficult to celebrate ending the Packers’ season virtually ending as the only thing open for the Purple now is the question of what to do at quarterback. Does it become Jaren Hall time until Nick Mullens returns from the IR? Does the team sign a free agent who is currently watching the games at home on his couch? Do they trade for some other team’s backup quarterback (who are backups for a reason)? And how does Cousins’ contract affect this situation? Have we seen the last of Kirk (who was having a monster year) at quarterback in Minnesota?
The answers to these questions began to crop up on Tuesday afternoon before the trading deadline, as the Vikings traded for Arizona Cardinals quarterback Joshua Dobbs. Dobbs has some starting experience but certainly not the numbers Cousins was putting up this season. The Purple also traded left guard Ezra Cleveland to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a 6th;round pick in 2024 (they had given up a sixth-rounder next year for Dobbs) and hurt their guard depth to a degree. Just when the line was falling into place, Cleveland was injured and now is gone, making way for Dalton Risner to be the full-time starter.
New faces in new places, as the next stage of this already crazy season begins today, and we here at the Vikings Territory Breakdown podcast (Joe Oberle, senior writer at vikingsterritory.com and purplePTSD.com and Mark Craig, NFL and Vikings writer for the Star Tribune and ;startribune.com) are here to talk about. So, click on the link, tune in and check it out.