Vikings QB Kirk Cousins Gives His Account Of His Season-Ending Achilles Tear That Might Make You Squirm

What the celebrity deaths were for the year 2009, Achilles tears were for 2023. It felt like there was something in the water (or more likely turf) that led to some big-name athletes going down with the injury. That included Jets QB Aaron Rodgers, Ravens RB JK Dobbins, Bills CB Tre'Davious White, and even everyone's favorite soccer player, Megan Rapinoe fell victim to the body's Achilles heel, the Achilles tendon.

Another one of these athletes was Viking quarterback and man who definitely doesn't shave his pits (though he never ruled out waxing) Kirk Cousins.

The Vikings released a documentary called The 2023 Voyage, in it, Cousins talked about his Achilles injury that changed the team's season.

And just a heads up, if you're extra-squeamish… godspeed.

"When I first got hurt, I didn't think I did anything too bad — because I get stepped on all the time — it just felt like my heel got stepped on," he said in the documentary. "Then I realized that I can't get to the sideline so I just hopped."

The consummate pro that he is, Cousins' first thought was that he had suffered a sprain, and he started thinking about the rough month or so of rehab that he thought would be ahead of him.

Of course, we know the process is much longer than a month.

"I went and my heel didn't go. So (I) just stretched it like crazy. But I didn't feel anything go. I went to press down and I got nothing," he told the team's medical staff on the sidelines.

Kirk Cousins said he was in denial after suffering a season-ending Achilles injury against the Packers in Week 8. (© Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports)

Kirk Cousins Said He Was In Denial After Injury

However, with the benefit of hindsight, Cousins copped to the fact that he was completely in denial of the fact that he had suffered a much more severe Achilles injury. 

"I was in a bit of denial about the injury," he said. "What I'm feeling and it's all the traditional signs that I'd torn my Achilles."

That's brutal. Not the same thing, but I broke my pinky finger in a tragic beach volleyball accident in college. Even though it was pointing in the opposite direction, I was in denial that it was anything other than a bruise, maybe a sprain.

My friends were like, "You need to go to the hospital," and I insisted on staying in the game.

To this day, that finger still has one hell of a chicane in it.

I get it, Kirk. I get it.

That was a bummer of a way for Cousins' Viking career to potentially come to an end, but oddly enough, the team continued on its upward trajectory without him, and nearly made the postseason, despite an abysmal start to the year.