The Minnesota Vikings have brought back Kirk Cousins in a trade with the Raiders, turning to a familiar face after a season in which a championship calibre defence has been paired with an offence that could barely score. Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton, who watched the search unfold, called the return the greatest thing that could have happened to us, and said the Vikings were lost before the move.
Why it matters
The situation in Minnesota had become bizarre. The Vikings fell 23-6 to the Bills on Monday Night Football, and the defence has been winning games while the offence has struggled to find a quarterback. Cousins, who is having a great year, arrives as the answer to a problem that has defined the season, and his wife Julie shared the whirlwind 24 hours as the family flew back to familiar territory from Las Vegas. The Vikings fell 23-6 to the Bills on Monday Night Football, and the defence has been winning games while the offence has struggled to find a quarterback.
Tarkenton knows the script. He spent 1961 through 1966 with the Vikings before returning from 1972 through 1978, and his second act produced three Super Bowl appearances. The return of Cousins conjures memories of that second act, and the parallel is not lost on Minnesota fans who remember what a veteran quarterback can do for a team that is already built to win.
What happens next
The trade deadline was busy across the league. The Bills landed safety Amani Hooker from Tennessee after missing out on Jessie Bates and Budda Baker, the Jaguars added defensive help, and the Eagles stockpiled draft picks. But no move changes a team fortunes as directly as a quarterback, and no quarterback move this week carries as much history as Cousins coming home.
What happens next will be decided on the field, where Cousins has to turn a defence led team into a complete one. The Vikings have the pieces around him, and they have a quarterback who knows the building, the fans and the expectations. For Minnesota, the season starts again now. Cousins arrives knowing the building, the fans and the expectations, and the team has the pieces around him to win now.
