Kirk Cousins Finally Gets His First Monday Night Football Win

Kirk Cousins is 32 years old. He has been in the league for nine years already, but he is just now getting the first ever win on Monday Night Football. Cousins had been 0-9 as the starting quarterback on Monday night primetime games.

Now after Week 10, the former fourth-round pick out of Michigan State is 1-9 on Monday nights. His Minnesota Vikings got a 19-13 victory over division rival the Chicago Bears. The win puts the Vikings at 4-5 with a three-game winning streak.

Twitter had some fun with Cousins getting his first Monday night win, too.

 

Cousins wasn't perfect, but he was effective. He had 292 yards passing, averaged 8.2 yards per attempt and tossed two touchdowns and only one interception. Surprisingly enough, that interception came at the hands of star pass rusher Khalil Mack.

It was only the third pick of Mack's career. He typically does his work bringing quarterbacks down, not picking them off.

Still, Cousins didn't fold during a primetime game like he has in the past. Instead, he combined with running back Dalvin Cook to give his offense a balanced approach against a good defense. The Vikings went 8-of-15 (53.3 percent) on third downs and totaled 385 yards of offense.

These are now two teams heading in different directions.

While the Vikings celebrate a three-game win streak, the Bears are riding a four-game losing streak after starting the season 5-1. Those four losses have been by an average of only 7.5 points per game.

Minnesota was originally thought to be serious contenders in the NFC North while Chicago was expected to be one of the worst teams in the NFL. Neither of these projections have come true.

This game was the perfect opportunity for Cousins to get that Monday Night Football monkey off his back, and he came through with flying colors. Now he and his teammates have to focus on a very winnable game against a struggling Dallas Cowboys.

Follow Clint Lamb on Twitter @ClintRLamb.