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GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Standing at a podium in a polo shirt and plaid blazer with beads of sweat collecting on his forehead, Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins wasn’t sure how to articulate what he was feeling. Exhausted and mentally spent after persevering through a gauntlet in his debut at Lambeau Field, Cousins traded blow for blow with Aaron Rodgers while staging a late-game comeback. His wild introduction to the Vikings-Packers rivalry ended in an unfamiliar result, a 29-29 overtime tie after rookie kicker Daniel Carlson missed a game-winning field goal from 35 yards as time expired. "What are my emotions? I’m tired and I don’t know what to feel after a tie," Cousins said. "There were times when we felt we should have won it and there were times when the Packers felt like they should have won it." Cousins passed for 425 yards and four touchdowns, leading the Vikings back from a 20-7 deficit at the beginning of the fourth quarter by connecting with Stefon Diggs on back-to-back series, capped off with a 75-yard touchdown pass on a drive that spanned 17 seconds. A week after recording his worst fourth-quarter performance of his career by going 0-for-7 against the 49ers, Cousins displayed poise and precision in working his connections to bring Minnesota within striking distance. He had to be spot-on, faced with a small window to score a touchdown and nail the 2-point conversion to force overtime. Cousins did both, hitting Thielen for a 22-yard touchdown reception at the end of regulation followed up with a 2-point conversion to Diggs. "Any time you have a drive like that, it takes offensive linemen protecting, it takes receivers catching tough catches, being on the details of where they line up and the spacing on the field, getting out of bounds and being aware of the situation, having a great play-caller getting you in the position to get the ball out of your hand and get the open man," Cousins said. "It took so many people to get us down there and I thought it was good for our offense to get there."  Added Thielen: "It just shows how accurate Kirk can be, especially in those critical situations."
Cousins is the first Vikings quarterback with 400 yards passing and four TD throws in a game since Daunte Culpepper on Oct. 17, 2004, against the Saints. "I thought Cousins played outstanding," Zimmer said. "I thought he made some outstanding throws, made good decisions. I thought he made some really good plays." The crunch-time contributions from Diggs and Thielen helped Cousins overcome an up and down day from the rest of his supporting cast. Laquon Treadwell, who caught the first touchdown pass of his career in the first quarter, also dropped three of his six targets on Sunday. Cousins' sole interception Sunday came when a pass bounced off Treadwell’s hands and into the mitts of Ha Ha Clinton-Dix for a 24-yard return. The Vikings' defense pulled through on the ensuing dirve, holding Green Bay to a field goal with 2:04 left in regulation. But long before that, the Vikings’ special teams put them in a hole early when Geronimo Allison blocked a Matt Wile punt and Packers rookie Josh Jackson caught the deflection in the end zone for a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. Carlson missed his first field goal from 48 yards out in the second quarter. Before his would-be game-winner sailed wide right, Carlson was challenged with hitting a 49-yard field goal after Minnesota’s first overtime drive stalled. The skill of having short-term memory as a quarterback is one Cousins has learned to master throughout the years. Cousins pulled on his own experiences in relaying words of encouragement to the rookie kicker. "I just tell him, 'Hey, get in line with guys who have failed,'" Cousins said. "I’ve thrown four picks in a game, I’ve had nights where I’ve wondered if I should show up at work the next morning with how frustrated I was with myself. I’ve been benched and sat out of the rest of the season because I wasn’t playing well enough. We’ve all been there. We’ve all had to wait our turn and we’ve all failed and learned from it. "He’s wired with the right kind of stuff. If there was somebody on our team who I know that can mentally and emotionally handle it, it’s DC. He’s got the right wiring, and he’ll be alright." Cousins notched a better day statistically than Rodgers, who played with a large brace on his left knee after sustaining a sprain last week. He threw for 281 yards and a touchdown and was sacked four times. Cousins’ introduction to the Vikings’ biggest rivalry didn’t end on a high note, but it didn’t result in a loss either. In some ways, Zimmer said, the tie may help Minnesota down the road. In any event, Cousins walks away from his first Packers game with an understanding of what it will take to pull out victories against a stalwart opponent -- and he needs full support from his team to pull it off.
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