Kirk Cousins, Kevin O'Connell fire up Vikings with postgame speeches

"The speed of the leader, the speed of the team," said Cousins.
Kirk Cousins, Kevin O'Connell fire up Vikings with postgame speeches
Kirk Cousins, Kevin O'Connell fire up Vikings with postgame speeches /

Kirk Cousins played a great game and Kevin O'Connell called a great game in Minnesota's 23-7 win over the Packers, but both the quarterback and head coach deflected credit in their locker room speeches after Sunday's statement victory. 

"You guys who have played in the league long enough know this, and I believe strongly everything rises and falls on leadership. The speed of the leader, the speed of the team," Cousins said, talking about O'Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. "These two guys are running this organization. And we're going to go as far as they're going to take us."

Owner Zygi Wilf chimed in, "All the way."

"All the way," Cousins echoed, "These guys leading us, this was their first win. So game balls to both of you. Great team win, men. That was a team win all the way around, men. Let's go, Vikes on three, 1-2-3 Vikes!"

O'Connell fist-pumped before making his speech, drawing a roar from the team. 

"First and foremost, you get an opportunity to be a head coach in this league it takes the ultimate trust from ownership to decide that you're the right guy to lead the organization. And I'm so thankful that they picked me, not just because of them as owners, but because of our coaching staff, our players and everybody that pours into this team," he said. Because like I told you last night, I love this team. I love this team and everything about you guys."

He then gave Zygi and Mark Wilf game balls. 

"Guess what this one's for?" he said of the third game ball in his hands. "Even if it's gotta come out of my budget, this one's for every single coach and player in this room right now. That's too much of a team effort."

Related: How the Vikings' offense thrived against the Packers

Related: Aaron Rodgers to Justin Jefferson: 'Best player in the game today'


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Joe Nelson
JOE NELSON

Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen.  His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011.  Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play.  Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers.  Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.