A year ago when Kirk Cousins was on “Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli” — the alternative broadcast dubbed the Manningcast — he was riding the high of wearing chains and beating Washington, his former team.

In his return to the show Monday, Cousins was more subdued but still upbeat. And he wound up getting to talk a lot of football with the Manning brothers on a unique night with two Monday games going on concurrently that both went down to the wire.

Here are three insights gleaned from Cousins’ appearance:

*Cousins’ rehab is progressing nicely: Toward the end of the Vikings’ 24-10 win at Green Bay, which moved the Vikings to 4-4, Cousins suffered a season-ending Achilles injury. The Vikings have gone 3-2 without him while leaning heavily on defense, while Cousins is full speed ahead with 2024 on his mind.

“They told me the rehab would be like the stock market, general trending up but some days are better than others,” Cousins said. “But since surgery, it’s been a bull market. It’s getting better every day.”

Eli and Peyton joked about a video of Cousins crawling into the ocean on a recent vacation, refusing to let his injury keep him out of the water.

“I’m like a sea turtle just making his way out,” Cousins mused while watching it.

*Cousins still feels like he’s getting better: The Vikings QB was asked to evaluate a lot of the young quarterbacks who were playing Monday, and he told a story about how things started to “click” for him in his fourth season after his famous “You like that!” comeback win with Washington.

But Cousins also said the process of growing doesn’t stop, even for a veteran, and he referenced some advice he gleaned from Tom Brady late in Brady’s career.

“He said, ‘Kirk, it’s still clicking’. … It’s never that one moment. It’s a gradual process over time,” Cousins said. “I’m in Year 12 and I feel like I’m better than I was in Year 11, better than Year 10.”

Keep that in mind as Cousins approaches Year 13 while heading into free agency and coming off the first major injury of his pro career.

*It was clear Cousins was rooting against the Packers, and for good reason: The Titans pulled out an improbable 28-27 win over the Dolphins, and it looked like the Packers might do the same when a late touchdown put them up 22-21 over the Giants.

“The Giants still have time,” Cousins noted after Green Bay went ahead with 1:33 left. “Come on Tommy. Come on Tommy Cutlets.”

That’s a reference of course to Giants cult hero Tommy DeVito. Cousins even slipped into full on rooting mode, saying, “All we need is a field goal” and later adding, “that’s what we need” after a big play got the Giants into range.

New York did, indeed, cap off the 24-22 win with a field goal as time expired, dropping the Packers to 6-7 (as I talked about on Tuesday’s Daily Delivery podcast).

Every team that entered play in the NFC with a 6-6 record this week lost — except the Vikings, who won by scoring just three points.

It was a huge week for the Vikings, and Cousins was clearly still very invested in their playoff position. Minnesota’s playoff odds jumped from 44% before the week to 62% after Monday, while the Packers’ chances dropped from 71% to 50%.