The Minnesota Vikings’ future at quarterback is bright, But their former starter, Kirk Cousins, is having an equally opposite experience this season. It is his first with the Atlanta Falcons, and there is no certainty that it will not be his last.

Cousins leads the league in interceptions with 16 through 15 weeks.

For that reason among others, the Falcons benched Cousins for rookie first-round pick Michael Penix.

“It’s pro football. There’s a standard that I have for myself, that the team has for me, that, unfortunately, I – I wasn’t playing up to that standard consistently enough. And so it is what it is,” Cousins told reporters on December 18. “You roll with it, and now you still get ready; one-play-away kind of a thing, and support Mike, and just try to help our team be able to find a way to win these last three [games] to get in the playoffs, and that’s what it’s all about so that’s that’s my focus.”