It started when Greg Joseph came up short on a 49-yard field goal attempt that would have given Minnesota an insurmountable 19-6 lead. It ended when Joseph made a 54-yard field goal that gave the Vikings an unlikely 19-17 win.
But it wasn’t quite over. Cameras caught Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins and Vikings coach Mike Zimmer in an aggressive push-and-shove moment. It looked like something other than a moment of unbridled joy. It looked like Cousins releasing some frustration in the face of Zimmer, and Zimmer not appreciating the aggressive gesture, to the point where someone needed to hold Zimmer back from beating the crap out of his quarterback. (And Zimmer, despite being on the wrong side of 65, could probably do it.)
Cousins downplayed the incident after the game. “I was just celebrating with it,” he said. “I was fired up.”
To the outside observer, it felt like something other than a celebration. It felt like belligerent defiance from Cousins, an opportunity to stick it to a coach who has been publicly (and surely privately) outspoken about his disagreement with Cousins’s decision to not get vaccinated.
And it underscores the fact that the Vikings are 2-3, that they should be 1-4, and that the Vikings have a mini-murderer’s row of games coming up between the rematch with the Lions in Week 13.
At Panthers, Cowboys, at Ravens, at Chargers, Packers, at 49ers. Cousins and Zimmer may not have many opportunities for awkwardly aggressive celebrations between now and their trip to Detroit.
Kirk Cousins, Mike Zimmer have an awkward moment after Minnesota’s win originally appeared on Pro Football Talk