National Football League

Could Kirk Cousins return if Vikings make Super Bowl run?

Updated Dec. 20, 2023 2:52 p.m. ET

Aaron Rodgers' dream of making a miraculous, same-season return from a torn Achilles has been vanquished, but another star quarterback could be eyeing a return this season from the same injury. Well, at least his wife is.

Kirk Cousins shared that his wife, Julie, is holding out hope that he can return for the Super Bowl if the Vikings make a miraculous run, but he isn't holding out hope. Appearing on "The Adam Schefter Podcast," Cousins explained that it was unlikely he could return to play this season, but that isn't stopping his wife from dreaming of the possibility.

"Aaron's injury was eight weeks ahead of mine. That's essentially two months. For him to come back, let's say he does come back, you'd basically need to add eight weeks to that for when I could come back. When you start to do that math, you end up past the Super Bowl.

"I said [that] to my wife and she said, ‘Do you think you can play in the Super Bowl?' I said, ‘Well, if they make it to the Super Bowl without me, they're probably not going to want to play me in that game if they got that far without me.'"

If Cousins is looking at Rodgers' timeline for a possible return, his chances of returning in 2023 don't look great, even if the Vikings make the Super Bowl. Jets coach Robert Saleh ruled out any possibility that Rodgers will play in any of the Jets' final three games of the season on Wednesday, even though the team activated him off injured reserve so that he could still practice.

A day prior, Rodgers indicated that he was still a ways away from being fully healthy, and it was "unrealistic" that he'd play again this season.

"I think the whole time it's been hoping that we're still in [the playoff race]," Rodgers said on "The Pat McAfee Show." "I do feel like in the next three to four weeks it would be very possible to get to 100 percent, but [I'm] obviously not there, and so the conversation was away from 100 percent medical clearance to a willingness to play, and that's never been a problem for me."

As for the Vikings, Minnesota has been able to retain some of the momentum it had in the weeks leading up to its quarterback's Achilles tear. It's gone 3-3 over its last six games, with all three of its losses coming by three points or fewer as it holds the No. 6 seed in the NFC playoff picture entering Week 16.

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However, the Vikings have had a notable dropoff at quarterback with Cousins out. They've started three quarterbacks over their last six games, playing fifth-round rookie Jaren Hall at first before he got hurt in his opening start, paving the way for Joshua Dobbs. The Dobbs experiment initially worked, with the journeyman quarterback leading Minnesota to surprising wins in his first two appearances.

But Dobbs fizzled out by Week 14, getting benched for Nick Mullens, who started for the Vikings in Week 15. Despite that, Cousins continued to acknowledge that the Vikings probably wouldn't want to make a quarterback switch in the off-chance they made it to the Super Bowl.

"I'd be the first one there to cheer them on and would love to get fitted for a ring, but I don't know that I'd be the one playing," Cousins said. "That's kind of my thing, but my wife is holding out hope that somehow if Aaron can get back fast, then you add eight weeks that I'd be right there at the Super Bowl.

"Who knows, we'll see. This league's crazy."