Kirk Cousins is back, and he's grateful to be in Minnesota. So is his head coach.

Former Vikings, now Falcons and Raiders quarterback Kirk Cousins spoke to the media Wednesday, a day after the team reacquired him from Las Vegas in exchange for a 3rd round draft pick in 2027.

Cousins, who played in Minnesota from 2018-2023, touched on potentially starting this Sunday at Lambeau Field. Carson Wentz started this past week, while regular starter Kyler Murray is dealing with a strained hamstring, paving the way for Cousins to immediately start under center.

"It means a lot to play at Lambeau Field, no matter what the, the circumstances," Cousins said Wednesday. "Knowing that that was where I was carted off and I had thoughts of, is this my last game? And is this my last game as a Viking? To be back there, wearing the purple and gold, it has meaning. But you have to go make it mean something with the way you play."

On whether he is prepared to play Sunday, Cousins said that's a fair question to ask, but it's still too early to know.

"I don't think I can give you a fair answer only because of how early in the week it is, so I gotta get to work and I could have a better answer for you later in the week," adds Cousins.

His coach also hedged on answering if Cousins would start Sunday, but also seems pretty convinced he's going to immediately give them more consistency, however. O'Connell basically saying the addition will make life easier for his offense, which has struggle mightily, especially on Monday night against Buffalo in a 23-6 loss.

"Kirk is really a quarterback that is understood and progressed at a high level to a place of the power of completion, what it does to a defense, what it does to his teammates, what it does to the rhythm of the offense," O'Connell explains.

O'Connell has struggled mightily to get the Vikings offense anywhere near as consistent and explosive as it was under Cousins and the one year under Sam Darnold. Injuries and poor play from a revolving doors of quarterbacks in 2025, and so far in 2026 forced the hand of the club, and made this midseason deal necessary.

Cousins says it's great to be back but he is also leaving a situation in Las Vegas where he performed very well so far.

"It was tough to leave a building that you've spent some time with the guys, and built a rapport," Cousins said about leaving Las Vegas. "But also knew I was headed to a building that also know a lot of guys and have a great rapport."

One thing making the transition easier is the familiarity between Cousins and O'Connell.

"Kevin knows me, Kevin knows what I do well, Kevin knows what I don't do well, Kevin knows what I can handle, Kevin knows what I can't handle, and I think that helps," Cousins explains. "I think that helps that not just that he knows your strengths, but that he knows your weaknesses and that as a result, he's gonna try to protect you."

Former Viking, Raider, and current CBS NFL analyst Rich Gannon pulled no punches in his analysis of the trade, saying it's nothing but positive for both the Raiders and Vikings. The Raiders will now turn to number one overall draft pick Fernando Mendoza, who has been the backup to Cousins in Vegas so far.

Gannon tells WCCO's Chad Hartman that Cousins is clearly more equipped to start for the Vikings over what they've had so far this season.

"He's completed 67% of his career passes, so you're bringing in a legitimate pro," Gannon adds. "I mean, a guy that's done it at a high level for a long, long time, first and foremost. Secondly, it is a huge, and I mean huge with a capital H, upgrade over what they have in terms of preparation, attention to detail, and professionalism."

Green Bay is preparing for Cousins in a brutally difficult NFC North

Sunday's game in Green Bay is a big one for both teams. The Vikings started 6-0 but are reeling some after two straight losses, while the Packers won big in New England and are right in the thick of an extraordinarily competitive NFC North. Just a game separates all four teams now.

The NFC North is the first division in NFL history with every team three games over .500 through Week 9, and is a shockingly good 20-3, combined, against teams outside of the division. A very good football team from the NFC North is going to end up outside of the playoffs, making every divisional game that much more important.

As for how this is going over in Green Bay? Their head coach Matt LaFleur was asked about it in his meeting with reporters Wednesday, and said he believes without a doubt Cousins will start, adding he's a 'really intelligent guy.'

He also thought the Vikings got a bit of a steal, especially as desperate as the Vikings were coming off Monday night's debacle.

"I was surprised [the Raiders] didn't get more for him, quite honestly. I was shocked when I saw what they traded him for," LaFleur added.

It's a noon kickoff at Lambeau Field on FOX, and the game will be shown to most of the country in the early TV window.

O'Connell and Vikings have struggled to keep QB's healthy and consistent

Purple Insider's Matthew Coller was a little more committed, however. He says there's no doubt Cousins starts, unless something unforeseen happens.

"They can't ever play Carson Wentz ever again after the way that he performed," Coller begins. "I think that's probably his last time playing in the entire NFL unless he were to get hurt."

Coller also says the biggest issue O'Connell and his QB's have run into the last year and a half is inconsistency, with none of their anointed starts staying healthy long enough to build a rapport with their head coach.

"The biggest thing that stuck out to me with what Kirk said about Kevin O'Connell was he said that O'Connell knows what he doesn't do well, which is really good, right? That there are certain things you can't ask him to do," Coller adds. "And I actually think that one of the biggest problems over the last couple of years with O'Connell is that he didn't have enough time to figure that out with any of these quarterbacks. McCarthy plays 2 games and then gets hurt. Here's Wentz for a couple of games. McCarthy plays a couple more and then gets hurt again. Then Kyler starts the season, he gets hurt on the 11th play of the season."

Coller also says the so-called QB competition between Murray and McCarthy in training camp was a farce, and didn't help the team gel on offense early on. McCarthy has since been traded to the New York Giants.

"The quarterback competition, I don't think helped that at all with the fact that he held a quarterback competition that was unnecessary in camp," Coller adds. "And maybe didn't get to know Kyler well enough, but maybe it would have gone different if he hadn't had to miss the first couple of games of the season."

By far, the biggest positive for the Vikings going forward is familiarity - they know exactly what they have in Kirk Cousins.

"I mean, this is like the thing with Kirk is that they have so many days together, and so many games together, even going back to when O'Connell was his quarterbacks coach way back in Washington in 2017," Coller told Hartman. "They really understand this is how Kirk sees the field. This is how he processes information. This is what he makes of defenses, and these are the play calls."