EAGAN, Minn. —Fresh off possibly the best month of his career on the field, Kirk Cousins has been rewarded with his stellar play by being named the NFC Offensive Player of the Month for October.
Cousins helped the Vikings go a perfect 4-0 during the second quarter of the 2019 season, which included road wins against the Giants and Lions, plus victories at U.S. Bank Stadium over Philadelphia and Washington.
Over his past four games, Cousins has completed 91 of 116 passes (78.4 percent) for 1,261 yards with 10 touchdowns and one interception. His passer rating in October was 137.1.
Cousins has completed 155 of 215 passes (72.1 percent) for 1,997 yards with 13 touchdowns and three interceptions through eight games. His passer rating of 115.1 ranks second in the NFL.
Cousins has now been the NFC Offensive Player of the Month three times in his career. He also earned the honor in November of 2016 and December of 2015 while with Washington.
Cousins' honor marks the third time that a Viking has won an NFC Offensive Player of the Month under Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer, who arrived in Minnesota in 2014. Adrian Peterson won the honor in November 2015, and Case Keenum did so in November 2017.
Cousins has led the Vikings to a 6-2 overall record at the halfway point of the 2019 season, as Minnesota currently sits in second place in the NFC North behind the 7-1 Packers.
The Vikings are also squarely in the NFC playoff picture, and would be a Wild Card team if the season ended today.
"I think we have to prove everything. All this is right now is we've put ourselves in a position for these last eight games to mean something, but the eight games will tell the story," Cousins said Wednesday about the Vikings position entering the second half of the 2019 season. "If we get the job done and win some of these critical games, it will be a great narrative and great story as we get closer to the end of the year, but if we don't win these challenging games, that certainly drives the narrative, too.
"The work is all out in front of us, and these are some tough games. Road games against really good football teams. The challenge is on us to prove that we belong," Cousins added. "We said it last year as well, that if we didn't get the job done, we didn't belong. We didn't deserve to be in the playoffs. We've got a chance here with these last eight games to prove that we belong in the conversation at the end."
Cousins and the Vikings play the Chiefs in Kansas City on Sunday in Week 9. Kickoff is at noon (CT).
