Cousins Tests Positive for COVID; Out for Sunday vs. Packers

In eight career starts against Green Bay, Kirk Cousins is 4-3-1 with a 110.4 passer rating. But the Viking still have Dalvin Cook.

Author:
Bill Huber
Updated:
Dec 31, 2021 3:33 PM EST
Original:
Dec 31, 2021

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins has tested positive for COVID-19, a huge blow to the Vikings ahead of Sunday night’s game against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.

Kellen Mond, a third-round draft pick in this year’s draft, was the only other quarterback on the roster at the start of the week. However, the Vikings activated Sean Mannion from the COVID list and he will start, according to NFL Network.

Cousins has played all 1,039 offensive snaps this season.

“It’s unfortunate, obviously,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “Got a lot of respect for Kirk, going back a long time to our days in Washington. First, hope he’s feeling OK. He’s a heck of a competitor and he’s had a great year for them and a great career up to this point, so certainly he will be missed I know on their sideline. But I don’t think it changes the way we prepare. Still preparing the same way as we would if he were playing.”

Cousins is fourth in the NFL with a 101.3 passer rating and has 30 touchdowns vs. seven interceptions. He destroyed the Packers in the first matchup, going 24-of-35 for 341 yards and three touchdowns, good for a 128.4 passer rating. In Sunday’s home loss to the Rams, he threw for 315 yards but failed to take advantage of the three interceptions provided by the defense.

“I think they’re a very talented team,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said of the Vikings this week. “You look at what they have offensively, they’ve got weapons all across the board – starting with Kirk Cousins. I think he’s played at an extremely high level, just like he has for most of his career.”

In eight career starts against Green Bay, Cousins is 4-3-1. He’s averaged 282 yards per game with 18 touchdowns, five interceptions and a 110.4 passer rating. He’s topped a 110 rating in three consecutive matchups.

The line moved quickly. While the game went off the board at some sportsbooks, the Packers are 13.5-point favorites at FanDuel. That's up seven points from where it was on Monday.

Minnesota will ride premier running back Dalvin Cook even more than usual. The Packers' run defense was crushed last week by Cleveland to the tune of 219 yards, and Cook piled up 229 total yards against Green Bay in the Vikings' upset win at Lambeau last year.

“I don’t think it changes a whole lot because Sean’s been doing it for a long time,” LaFleur said. “He’s been in this league for a while now. They’ve still got multiple playmakers on that offense, whether they do it through the air or on the ground. Shoot, last year when we played the Vikings in Lambeau on that windy day, I think they only threw the ball 14 times. There’s just so many weapons that they have, obviously the two backs – Cook and (Alexander) Mattison – but then you look at (Justin) Jefferson, (K.J.) Osborn, Tyler Conklin’s having a great year. So, our defense will have their work cut out for them. We’ve got to be getting 11 guys on the same page and just playing with great energy and effort on every snap.”

Mannion was a third-round pick out of Oregon State in 2015 by the St. Louis Rams. He’s started two games – one for the Rams in 2017 when LaFleur was the offensive coordinator and one for the Vikings in 2019 – and lost both. For his career, he’s 45-of-74 passing (60.8 percent) for 384 yards with zero touchdowns, three interceptions and a 57.5 passer rating.

His last NFL action came in the 2019 finale, a 21-19 loss at home to the Chicago Bears in which he went 12-of-21 for 126 yards and two interceptions.

The other option was Mond. At Texas A&M, he finished as the school’s all-time leader in total offense (11,269), passing yards (9,661), passing touchdowns (71), completions (801) and passing attempts (1,358). He went 3-0 in bowl games and was MVP of the Senior Bowl.

"The way that I'm able to elevate my game is I watch a bunch of NFL film and I want to watch somebody for certain reasons,” he said before the draft. “If I'm trying to improve on my footwork, then I'm probably going to watch Tom Brady or Drew Brees. If I need to work on playing a little bit looser and a little bit more free, I may watch Aaron Rodgers or Deshaun Watson. Just kind of the way that I piece my game and am able to learn from the best people in the league and the best players in the country, I just go to different people and kind of pick their strengths so that I can implement it into my game and make it my own mode and be my own player.”

The other quarterback on their roster is Kyle Sloter, who spent camp with the Vikings and re-signed there this week after having a tryout with the Packers. He was an undrafted free agent in 2017 out of Northern Colorado.

The Packers have been hit by COVID, too, but the only starter on their virus list is tight end Marcedes Lewis, who could be activated in time for Sunday's game.