Minnesota Vikings Share Devastating Update About Kirk Cousins Following Packers Game

Late in the game between the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Kirk Cousins went down on a non-contact injury where he fell to the ground and gingerly got up and hobbled off the field.

While many NFL pundits declared Cousins done for the season based on footage of what happened during the play that sidelined Kirk, the team's official stance was that they'd be awaiting the results of a medical exam to see what happened with what appeared to be a lower leg injury.

The Vikings shared an official update on Monday afternoon, explaining that Cousins underwent an MRI on Monday morning to further examine what was feared - a season-ending  Achilles injury.

In that update, the team confirmed that Cousins did indeed suffer an Achilles tendon tear, a similar injury witnessed early in the season as Aaron Rodgers ended his season in early September on Monday Night Football.

What is the outlook for Kirk?

In the team's update, the Vikings said the timeline and details of his upcoming surgery will be determined later this week. They noted that they will continue to provide updates as they become available.

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The Ohio State College of Medicine explains that most Achilles surgeries are generally done within two weeks of the injury, with general recovery taking 6-9 months, noting that returning to athletic activities could take 9-12 months, depending on how severe the injury and a number of other factors.

Following that timeline, that would put Kirk back on the field sometime during the preseason or early in the regular season of next year. That situation gets more complicated though due to Kirk's contract status.

What's next for the Vikings at quarterback?

Rookie Jaren Hall came into the game to replace Cousins after the injury, and is the most likely candidate to start for the Vikings against the Falcons in Atlanta on Sunday, November 5 at noon.

With the trade deadline looming (3 pm central time on October 31), the team has to make a quick decision on how they want to proceed with the rest of the season.

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After stringing together a couple of wins, the Vikings are at 4-4 coming out of the win over the Packers, placing them in the playoff hunt for this year.

The Vikings currently only have one healthy quarterback on the active roster - Jaren Hall. Nick Mullens is currently on Injured Reserve, with an expected return for Week 10 against the Saints at US Bank Stadium.

Head coach Kevin O'Connell spoke to the media on Monday afternoon, sharing that he and the team's staff and general manager continue to assess options with the looming trade deadline. Without using any specific names, O'Connell discussed the team's options of looking for someone who could be a starter into the future or a player to plug a gap for a while.

He gave no indication of which direction the team was looking to go, but we'll be learning a lot more in the next day as the team discusses their options and either makes a trade (or doesn't) by the trade deadline at 3 pm central time on October 31.

Complicating things is the fact that Cousins becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season. While Kirk was among the best quarterbacks in the NFL in a number of categories up to this point in the season, he and the team seemed mutually content on discussing a contract "later".

With Kirk now having to contend with a major injury that could be hard to come back from, it's hard to know how he and the team would want to approach the idea of keeping him around after this season.

The next day will say a lot about what the team would like to do about the quarterback situation for the long haul.