It was a crushing, season-ending injury that also ended what was likely an MVP season for Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins, sending him off the field at least until next year. But, rather than expressing anger or bitterness over the devastating injury, Cousins said that really his career is just God’s to steward.
As background, the career ender occurred on the Vikings game against the Green Bay Packers on October 29, during which Cousins tore his Achilles tendon and had to be taken off the field in what was obviously intense pain.
But then he appeared for a press conference on November 17 in which he addressed his injury and commented on how he is leaving the matter to God, rather than worrying about it too much and getting caught up fretting over something that’s not in his hands.
Beginning, Cousins commented on how horrible events like this, however bad they might be, have the silver lining of showing the incredible number of good people out there willing to help and pray for you if the worst occurs. “You don’t quite know how many people are in your corner or how many people are praying for you and cheering you on until something like this happens,” he said.
Continuing, he commented on how things are going for the team and how he enjoys seeing it perform on the field, even though he has to remain a bystander. He said, “It’s been fun watching our football team win and play at a really high level and kind of continue this run. … Just excited to kind of see where the season goes, even though I’m a bystander. I think it’s still a lot of excitement up ahead.”
He then noted that though he’s disappointed about what happened, he also sees himself as lucky that it has taken this long for his first horrible injury to happen: “I’m still mad, you know. I’m still disappointed. But then you go right back to all the things you know. … I can’t change it. I got to move forward. That’s what we signed up for when we step between the white lines, and I’m fortunate to have come this far and not had surgery in football.”
But he doesn’t think it’s over yet. He still thinks there’s a good bit more in the tank for his career: “I just believe … there’s more of a story up ahead. … I really believe [that] in the core of my being. And I don’t know what that’ll be.”
And, in any case, he sees it all as being in God’s hands anyway. “I’m excited to kind of write the next chapter and see what God wants to do with it, whatever it may be. And just kind of be reminded, again, that you know, I’ve kind of got my career. It’s not my career. You know, it’s kind of His career that I steward. And I just got to surrender myself and let Him lead where He wants to go,” he said.
He continued, “When that’s a torn Achilles, I have to accept it just as much as if it’s a win on Monday Night Football. You know, it goes both ways. And I’m just a steward of what He gives me, and when He gives me a torn Achilles, I got to steward that.” He later added that, he is now “learning to play the sport holding my hands open and saying, ‘God, whatever you want to do, if that means a torn Achilles, I’ve got to accept that.'”
Featured image credit: By All-Pro Reels – https://www.flickr.com/photos/joeglo/52498731168/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=125477011
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