(Reuters) – Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins will miss the rest of the NFL season after an MRI on Monday confirmed he suffered an Achilles tendon tear during a Week 8 victory over the Green Bay Packers, the team said.
Cousins, who was enjoying one of the best seasons of his career, had thrown a pair of touchdown passes before suffering the non-contact injury in the fourth quarter and struggled to leave the field before being carted to the locker room.
The Vikings said the timeline and detail of the 35-year-old quarterback’s upcoming surgery will be determined this week.
“Our whole team, our whole organization, we’re all hurting this morning for Kirk,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell told reporters. “We’re going to miss him. There’s no doubt about it we’re going to miss him.
“But my expectations are, and in my dialogue briefly with Kirk since yesterday, he has every intent of being a major part of our leadership, a part of the quarterback room, part of our offense and part of our plans each week schematically like he’s been every step of the way.”
Cousins helped lead the Vikings back from a 1-4 start to the 2023 NFL season with three consecutive wins and back into the playoff picture while his top target, Justin Jefferson, was sidelined for a third consecutive week due to injury.
With one game left in Week 8, Cousins, who is in the last year of his contract with the Vikings, is tied for the NFL lead with 18 touchdown passes this season and is second in passing yards.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
