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Marc Raimondi, ESPN Staff Writer
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — A shirtless Kirk Cousins swayed back and forth, almost dancing in place with several expensive chains around his neck while wearing stylish, black-rimmed glasses.
It was November 2022, and Cousins’ Minnesota Vikings had just come from 10 points down to beat his former team, the Washington Commanders, in a key late-season game. That was the origin of Cousins’ alter ego, which was dubbed by teammates as “Kirko Chainz.”
That version of Cousins — minus the chains — has always existed. There’s the Cousins that goofs around by quoting ’90s Ben Stiller movies such as “Heavyweights” and jokes about taking teammates on a tour of casual-dining chain restaurants such as Texas Roadhouse. And then there’s the ultraserious Cousins, the one who focuses perhaps too hard on the “significance of the moment.”
“I think, honestly, my wife [Julie Hampton] would tell me that you really got to be the guy who’s just cracking jokes and having fun all the time,” Cousins said. “That’s your best self.
“I know she’s right, but it’s hard for me. … And so, I’m trying to find that balance.”
Kirko Chainz is headed to the ATL 🔥 pic.twitter.com/nIZ5MmN0Do
— NFL (@NFL) March 11, 2024
There have been two realities of Cousins on the field, as well. The 36-year-old Atlanta Falcons quarterback has seven seasons throwing more than 4,000 yards, and eight with more than 25 touchdown passes. But his teams have been to the playoffs with him as a starter only three times, and he’s 1-2.
Then there’s “Monday Night Football,” which features the Falcons on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles (8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Cousins has a 3-10 record on MNF, and from 2014 to 2019 he had the longest losing streak — nine games — of any quarterback in MNF history. But a closer look reveals those numbers might be deceiving. In any case, the Falcons are hoping Cousins reverses those fortunes against the Eagles (1-0), especially with Atlanta coming off a season-opening loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“That’s a lot of fun for television,” Atlanta coach Raheem Morris said of the scrutiny on Cousins’ big-game issues. “It’s good stuff to talk about.
“All of those things, you’ve [still] got to go out and play and you got to prepare. You got to trust your process and go out there and win.”
Morris said he remembered similar perceptions about another quarterback he knows well, Matthew Stafford, who is 6-9 on MNF with 19 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.
Morris was the defensive coordinator with the Los Angeles Rams when Stafford helped the Rams win Super Bowl LVI.
“We went out and started off winning really well, and we had a tough stretch there in November,” Morris said of the 2022 season. “Everybody forgot about us, and then Matthew Stafford happened and went to the playoffs and won us the Super Bowl.
“So, we gave him all the credit.”
Cousins has the third-worst winning percentage for quarterbacks in MNF starts, after Jim Everett (2-10) and Andy Dalton (2-8), according to ESPN Research. But statistically, he hasn’t played poorly, especially compared to his peers.
Cousins has 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions with a 54.3 total quarterback rating (QBR) on Monday nights. The league average QBR since Cousins made his first career Monday start in 2014 is 56.4. And Cousins has won three of his past four Monday games. In his most recent one, Cousins led the Vikings over the San Francisco 49ers, going 35-for-45 passing for 378 yards with two touchdowns and an interception in Week 7 of last season.
Cousins said he believed his supposed MNF struggles were “a dated narrative.”
There are also different schools of thought when it comes to whether the quarterback should bear responsibility for a team’s wins or losses. Morris said it’s a team result.
Cousins agrees. The last time he played the Eagles was a Thursday night game on Sept. 14, 2023. He went 31-of-44 for 364 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. The Vikings still lost 34-28.
“You get on the plane [after the game], you say, ‘Look, I didn’t play defense, I didn’t return punts,'” Cousins told ESPN. “I played quarterback and played well. We lost — would’ve loved to have played even better.
“But you’ve gotta ask yourself, ‘Are you playing winning football?’ And there’s parts you can control and there’s parts you can’t.”
Dalton said if someone is going to say a quarterback struggles on “Monday Night Football,” all it means is “he’s playing good people,” because the platform often tries to feature the best game or best teams.
“There’s no pressure,” Dalton said. “It’s just another game played later. Nothing changes. You’re going to have more cameras, and the sideline crew will be there before the game, but it’s all the same.
“If you’re going to get up more because it’s ‘Monday Night Football’ or be more nervous because it’s ‘Monday Night Football’ then you have the wrong mindset.”
There is some added pressure on Cousins and the Falcons this week. Cousins, in his first game back from a torn right Achilles suffered in Week 8 last season, struggled against the Steelers. He was 16-of-26 for 155 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Cousins had 19 passing yards in the second half, the lowest second-half total of his career.
The performance, so out of sync with Cousins’ career to this point, and Atlanta’s scheme called into question the quarterback’s health. The Falcons worked mostly out of the pistol set, which Cousins had never done more than 10 times in a game in his career. Cousins was set up under center on only one play, and the offense, under first-year coordinator Zac Robinson, did not utilize play-action — which Cousins has excelled at historically — once.
It was the first time he started a game and did not attempt a play-action pass. Last season, Cousins threw five touchdowns without an interception on 91 play-action attempts. Since entering the NFL in 2012, his 94 passing touchdowns off play-action rank second behind Russell Wilson (104), according to ESPN Research.
Cousins denied there were any setbacks in his recovery, and Morris chalked up his quarterback’s play to “rust.” The playcalling, the coach said, was simply the system and not an attempt to cover up any Cousins deficiency. The Falcons have not lost their confidence in Cousins.
“Wouldn’t want anyone else leading our team,” Robinson said.
Cousins has put up great numbers over the course of his 13-year career and parlayed that into hundreds of millions of dollars. Atlanta signed him to a four-year, $180 million contract in the offseason with $100 million guaranteed.
There was enough confidence in Cousins and the 2024 Falcons, with their young skill players such as running back Bijan Robinson, wide receiver Drake London and tight end Kyle Pitts, that the team sold out its season-ticket packages before training camp for the first time in 20 years.
“There’s been production, there’s been a financial benefit to that,” Cousins said. “But yeah, at this point, the box that I want to check is playing — and winning — meaningful games in January and February.”
Perhaps the key to that is finding a balance between the tongue-in-cheek Kirko Chainz and the hyperfocused Cousins. He’ll get another chance to change the narrative Monday night.
“I think there’s an intensity, there’s a seriousness, there’s a focus,” Cousins said. “My wife will tell you, ‘Kirk, seriousness is not a virtue.’ So, seriousness is good and all, but I think you’ve got to balance it with having fun and enjoying the moment.
“And so, I never want to lose my intensity, but I also want to make sure I have a blast as I’m playing. I think that’s when your best self comes out is when you’re having a blast.”