Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell on Kirk Cousins' departure: 'Sometimes things just don't work out'

The Minnesota Vikings are picking up the pieces left in the wake of Kirk Cousins' departure for Atlanta this week.

Part of the process includes explaining what happened, and how they intend to proceed after losing their quarterback in free agency. With Cousins now gone, the Vikings are taking a bit of a defiant stance, assuring assembled media members they weren't caught off guard by Cousins' decision to leave.

"There was complete alignment with, not only going into the process, but how everything played out," Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell said Thursday when asked if he and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah were on the same page regarding negotiations with Cousins. "From a standpoint of our plan with Kirk, everybody knows how myself, Kwesi, this organization feels about Kirk. Sometimes things just don't work out.

"The most important thing is that alignment and the understanding that our plan's in place. Kwesi's used the word contingency plans, but those are all discussions and paths and avenues we can take at a very, very important position. In the end, as much as I would've maybe liked to have Kirk here, the right thing moving forward for our team is where we are today."

All the Vikings can do is move forward, and many will expect them to seek another quarterback via the draft as part of that process. Adofo-Mensah wouldn't commit to such a notion, but he also wouldn't guarantee the quarterback they have signed -- former 2018 third-overall pick Sam Darnold -- will be Cousins' replacement.

"I'm not going to call him a bridge quarterback, but he's a quarterback that's on our roster under contract for a year," Adofo-Mensah said of Darnold. "Ultimately at the end of the day, the position is about how do you run Kevin's offense?