The Kirk Cousins era ends

I knew it was more than likely coming, but that still didn't prevent the sting I felt on Monday when news broke that Kirk Cousins was signing with the Atlanta Falcons.

This is the end of an era. Yeah, it wasn't the most successful era, but it was quite memorable and had a lot more pinnacle highlights than the Kirk haters would ever admit. 

Heading into free agency, my stance was that if the offers from the Vikings and Falcons were close, that Kirk would indeed take the lesser deal to stay here. I don't think his words to that effect were empty.

But then I saw the deal he got in Atlanta. Four years, $180 million, with like $100 million guaranteed. We may never know the Vikings offer, but I would bet my life it was not close. I'd be surprised if Kwesi even went to 3 years, let alone 4, and the total money could easily be double our offer.

So I'm at peace with this on both ends. Kirk would have been nuts to turn down that deal, and from a team he certainly CAN win with. And the Vikings couldn't really make that length of a commitment to an aging QB coming off a major injury. And now they will almost certainly draft a 1st round QB next month.

But it's sad. In my rather long time as a Vikings fan, Kirk is one of my favorite players. He's a damn good player, supremely underrated, and is fun to watch.

No Super Bowl, or even a run (never got past the divisional round), but Kirk leaves some great memories. 

Tops are the 2019 playoff game at the Saints, and that incredible throw to Thielen to set up the walkoff touchdown. 

And even though it didn't yield a playoff win, that 2022 season was one of the most fun seasons I have ever experienced. Kirk was a prime component of that, with all the late comebacks, and the dawn of Kirko Chainz. 

And there were other highlight games in there, like the Denver comeback, and what turned out to be his final home game, last year's win over the 49ers.

It wasn't all great. 2018 was rocky. There were some pretty bad games here and there. The vaccine stuff was briefly humiliating. But the good outweighed the bad, and by a wide margin.

This era was, of course, marred from the beginning by a campaign of hate I have never seen directed at a player by his own fanbase. Almost every part of every negative narrative against Kirk was total bullshit, but it persisted. Even now, some of these idiots will swear Kirk's contract kept the team from signing players, or that Kirk's stats were only accumulated in garbage time.

But the facts proved us Kirk supporters correct at every turn. Fact is that he was a damn good player these last 6 years. Yeah, he got paid a lot....and he earned every dollar. Everyone saw what losing him last year did to us. I hope Kwesi's plan works out, cause I dread the idea of the Vikings whiffing on the draft and returning to that QB abyss they had spent most of that post-Culpepper, pre-Cousins era in.

I hope Kirk plays great in Atlanta (except when we play him). The Falcons could easily own their division with a healthy Kirk.

So, thanks for the memories, Kirk. I did definitely LIKE THAT.