The two most compelling figures at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday will be rich men trying to pretend they aren’t rattled. Kirk Cousins and Jon Gruden have made their money. In the second year of their latest endeavors, neither has yet to make his bones.
Cousins, the Vikings quarterback, has shrunk before our eyes since the middle of last season, falling from possible savior to targeted goat. Famous for screaming, “You like that!’’ he now seems to yearn to be merely liked, or forgiven. Signed to an $84 million fully guaranteed contract, Cousins is becoming a cross between Herschel Walker of 1991 and Brett Favre of 2010.