Kirk Cousins' mustache has NFL fans alleging an identity crisis - "What losing to the Giants in the playoffs does to a mf"

Kirk Cousins may not have played in the Minnesota Vikings' preseason finale, but he did attract attention for the wrong reasons.

The Vikings hosted the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday and lost 17-18 after twice leading by 14. Rookie Jaren Hall completed 16 of 27 passes for 178 yards and a touchdown, but he also committed a costly fourth-quarter interception and was sacked six times.

The Cardinals, meanwhile, missed on both their point-after-touchdown attempts (a kick and a two-pointer), but ultimately won the game after Matt Prater hit a field goal with around six minutes remaining.

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Fans mock Kirk Cousins' mustache

But the focus of some fans was not on the game itself, but rather on Cousins' unusual facial appearance.

The multiple-time division winner had already gone for full facial hair when he first appeared at the Minnesota Vikings' preseason camp, but come Saturday his beard was all but gone, leaving an eerie-looking mustache:

And X could not help but laugh:

A few others compared the new look to some popular figures:

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When Kirk Cousins called loss to Giants "probably the toughest of my career"

A couple of the tweets above are a reference to the Vikings' notorious home loss to the New York Giants in the Wild Card round, and to be fair to them, Kirk Cousins clearly changed after that.

The Giants won that game after Cousins attempted a checkdown to tight end TJ Hockenson on a 4th-and-8 late in the fourth quarter, only for safety Xavier McKinney to stop Hockenson five yards short. Speaking to ESPN afterwards, he said:

"It hurts. I'm probably missing one, but this is probably the toughest loss I've had in my career."

When asked why, he said:

"All the obvious reasons. Thirteen wins, I haven't really sniffed that before. And just the fact that the group, the Garretts and the Alexes that ... are free agents that are not guaranteed to be back, I think it's hard to walk off the field."

And indeed, that game would be the last for a few key pieces, most notably running back Dalvin Cook and wide receiver Adam Thielen. Cousins was actually referring to center Garrett Bradbury and running back Alexander Mattison, but both received extensions during the offseason and will remain key offensive pieces - especially Mattison, who may become the team's new primary rusher.