The Vikings' Kirk Cousins conundrum: Should Minnesota change course after injury?

The Minnesota Vikings were already facing a conundrum at quarterback before Week 8. They were letting veteran Kirk Cousins play out the last year of his deal and had a decision to make in the near future.

An Achilles tear suffered by Cousins on Sunday accelerated the near future into now.

An MRI on Monday confirmed what the Vikings had feared Sunday: Cousins will now be out for the season after tearing his right Achilles at Lambeau Field. And now the Vikings have an even more complicated decision to make.

"I think there's a lot of scenarios to that," said head coach Kevin O'Connell on Monday. "That's what we have to work through, and that goes back to my communication with Kwesi [Adofo-Mensah], his staff, our coaching staff and just the fact that we're all synced up and we understand that we signed up to live in this dual world, that sometimes can feel like it's competing against each other a little bit. That's where you've got to just continue to have dialogue, communicate, and ultimately make the best decision collectively, and more often than not, that's worked out for us, so far."

The Vikings were already in a "competitive rebuild," as coined by Adofo-Mensah. The beginning of the season had thrown that strategy into question as the Vikings started the season with three straight losses. They were competitive, sure, losing each game by a score or less. But they weren't winning.

Minnesota has now won four of its last five, including an impressive victory over the San Francisco 49ers. Cousins had a lot to do with that stretch. There had been talks of trading him when the Vikings were struggling, then there were talks of extending him when they started winning. But now? What do you do if you're Minnesota?

Cousins is currently tied for the NFL lead in passing touchdowns. He has the most completions, the most attempts, the second-most passing yards and the third-best quarterback rating. Those placements will slowly slip into oblivion as he misses the rest of the season, but how much can the Vikings lean into the Cousins they were getting before the injury? Or was that simply part of the Cousins Chaos Cycle, where he would have leveled off eventually? When Cousins heals, he'll be coming off one of the worst injuries you can have as a football player and will be on the wrong side of 35. Is that worth investing in because of the eight-game sample size we saw this season?

It's worth pointing out Cousins finished 2022 with the fourth-most passing yards and fifth-most touchdowns and that wasn't enough for the Vikings to extend him. Is this injury now the last piece the Vikings need to justify moving on from a damningly decent quarterback? 

If Minnesota does choose to move on, how hard do they work to do so? Like O'Connell said, is this a short-term rental to get through the end of the season? Or are the Vikings trying to find a replacement that could take you places Cousins couldn't?

A replacement would be very challenging to add, with virtually no precedent for teams trading starting quarterbacks at this point in the year. What team would even be willing to consider that? The Vikings would have to overpay to an extreme degree and after having just five picks in last year's draft, they are likely loath to part with any of the eight they have in 2024 while halfway through a rebuild.

The path forward that likely yields the best results is the hardest for a coaching and front-office staff to accept: a full rebuild. The worse the Vikings do, the better draft pick they get and the easier their quarterback crisis will be to solve. But for a team that didn't want to tear down to the studs in the first place, switching course now is a difficult concept to comprehend. 

For instance, just as the Vikings defense is getting the hang of Brian Flores' system and coming alive, do they trade Danielle Hunter, whose contract has been a thorn in their side, to get even more capital? It would help Minnesota in the long run but it would cut the defensive progress we've seen so far out at the knees. 

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I'm not sure if there is a right answer here. But it is going to be an interesting one. The best-case scenario for Minnesota before the Cousins injury was likely a first or second-round playoff exit. That was the best case for a 4-4 team. Is setting sights on that and staying ‘competitive' worth the hoops the Vikings would have to jump through for the rest of the season now that Cousins is out? I wouldn't think so. 

But tanking in Week 9 is hard to stomach, too. 

Realistically, I think it makes the most sense to add a player like Colt McCoy, or even *shudders* Carson Wentz, who can just get the team through the rest of the season. Maybe they can even serve as insurance and let rookie fifth-round pick Jaren Hall get more reps in hopes he can develop into something. 

But it shouldn't be too good of a solution. There is valuable draft capital on the line that the Vikings should set their sights on now. 

Carmen Vitali covers the NFC North for FOX Sports. Carmen had previous stops with The Draft Network and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. She spent six seasons with the Bucs, including 2020, which added the title of Super Bowl Champion (and boat-parade participant) to her résumé. You can follow Carmen on Twitter at @CarmieV.