This one wasn’t on Kirk Cousins.
The Vikings fell to the Seahawks 37-30 on Monday Night Football despite Cousins leading Minnesota back from a 34-17 defecit. The Vikings trailed 34-30 with less than three minutes left in the game, but a shorthanded Minnesota team ended up turning it over on downs.
The loss bumps the Vikings down to 8-4 on the season. That’s still good for the final wild card spot, but Minnesota fell a full game back from the Packers in the NFC North and the Vikings are now just a game up on the Rams for playoff spot.
What killed Minnesota in this game was its defense. Cornerback Xavier Rhodes continued to look completely lost and the Vikings allowed the Seahawks to run for more than 200 yards.
Cousins threw for 276 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He kept the Vikings in it when many fans were getting ready to go to bed. Cousins is now 0-8 on Monday Night Football, but this one especially can’t be pinned on him.
In news that could be really bad, Vikings running back Dalvin Cook suffered a shoulder injury while fumbling the ball in the third quarter. He did not return. We’ll get the severity of his injury likely on Tuesday.
Not a great night for the Vikings, but it also wasn’t totally unexpected.
They’ll have a chance to bounce back next week at home against the 3-8-1 Detroit Lions.