Jake Browning signed with the Vikings as an undrafted rookie in 2019 and spent two years in Minnesota. After leading the Bengals to a win over the Vikings today, Browning said it was personal.
“It was definitely a little extra,” Browning said. “I remember getting cut there last time and just being told, ‘We might have a spot for you on the practice squad but go back to the hotel and wait.’ So I sat in the hotel for a couple hours not knowing if I had a job or not, and just got a call from my agent. They didn’t tell me. I had been there for two years. I’ve been cut my fair share of times and that was probably the shittiest one. There was a little bit more this week.”
Browning acknowledged that the Vikings now have a different coaching staff than the one that cut him in 2021, and he doesn’t have personal animosity toward the individuals on the Vikings today. But he felt he was treated poorly by the Vikings franchise, and so he was extra excited to beat them.
“That one felt good,” Browning said. “Right after the field goal to win the game I screamed at the camera, ‘They never should have cut me.’”
The Bengals have now won three straight games with Browning as their starting quarterback, and the Vikings, who are fighting for their playoff lives, may wish they had kept him all along.