Vikings’ Kirk Cousins completes first 17 passes vs. Bears to break record once held by Tommy Kramer

Midway through the second quarter Sunday, quarterback Kirk Cousins looked up at the jumbotron and found out he had just entered the Vikings’ record book.

Cousins completed his first 17 passes in Minnesota’s 29-22 win over the Chicago Bears at U.S. Bank Stadium. Toss in the two passes he completed at the end of an Oct. 2 game against the New Orleans Saints, and that gave him 19 straight.

That broke both the multiple-game and single-game team marks for consecutive completions, which both had been held by Tommy Kramer. He completed 16 straight passes on Nov. 11, 1979, at Green Bay.

“I saw that graphic when it came up because I’m just sitting there watching the game along with 70,000 other people in the stadium when I’m on the sideline,’’ Cousins said. “It felt like we had only thrown about eight passes to me when they had said that. You just kind of play. You’re not really thinking about it.”

Kramer signed autographs in a U.S. Bank Stadium parking lot before Sunday’s game and then went to an appearance at Chanticlear Pizza in Coon Rapids. When it came up on the television that Cousins had broken his record, Kramer said he didn’t even know he had held the mark. He did remember having completed a bunch of passes in a row in that 1979 game against the Packers but hadn’t previously been able to recall the exact number.

Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen also saw on the jumbotron that Cousins had broken the record. He called it “pretty cool.”

“It felt great,” wide receiver Justin Jefferson, who caught a career-high 12 passes for 154 yards, said of Cousins’ streak. “It felt like Kirk was out there with confidence. Us being 17-of-17 helps him out a lot to say
that he can actually go out there and do it. I mean we were pretty much having a great game the whole
first half against them. Kirk was dialing it up, throwing to the right reads, making the right throws.”

For the game, Cousins completed 32 of 41 passes for 296 yards with one touchdown and one interception. His only very bad pass came on an interception thrown early in the fourth quarter to Kindle Vildor when Cousins said he went off having had success with that play before “instead of just running the play in a vacuum.’’

Cousins’ touchdown throw came on a 1-yard shuttle pass to wide receiver Jalen Reagor midway through the second quarter, which gave the Vikings (4-1) a 21-3 lead. That was the last pass before Cousins’ completion streak ended on the next drive.

“Somebody told me at halftime. I had no idea (about the record),’’ said Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell. “I just felt like he was playing really well and the ball was coming out. Very decisive and really taking advantage of the plan that we kind of put together.’’

Rather than the record itself, Cousins said what he likes most about completing so many passes in a row is that it makes for a good percentage. For the game Sunday, he completed 78 percent of his passes, raising his seasonal percentage to 66.2.

“Certainly you want to pride yourself on being a high completion percentage guy, within reason,’’ Cousins said. “I think sometimes it can be a stat that you can misuse, but I think completion percentage tends to reflect good decisions.”

For awhile Sunday, it looked as if Cousins might not be the only Vikings player to set a team record. Jefferson had 10 receptions for 138 yards in the first half and looked primed to challenge Sammy White’s 1976 record of 210 yards receiving in a game.

Jefferson slowed down in the second half but was able to top his previous career high of 11 receptions. And Thielen was impressed watching both Cousins and Jefferson.

“Those guys are elite football players and obviously a huge reason why we’re where we’re at right now in the season,’’ he said.

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