He was satisfied with what his team had done and everything that led up to that moment.

"And yet you realize 'Hey,' we gotta get ready for next week,'" Kirk Cousins told NBC Sports' Tony Dungy.

The Vikings quarterback knew celebrating the win over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday would be shortlived. He immediately remembered he would have to play the 49ers on Saturday for the NFC divisional-round game at Levi's Stadium.

"What you can't have is the emotional letdown," Cousins said. "You put so much into this last week, we have to have the maturity as a team to make sure that we have a great week and a great game so that we bring that same intensity that we brought to New Orleans that it shows up during San Francisco as well."

"The pass rush, the way they present explosive plays, I mean, it's not going to be easy. So as a quarterback, running against such a good defense, you certainly can't put us in a negative place. We've got to protect the football, we've got to convert their downs, we've got to -- in the red zone, score touchdowns, and set up for field goals -- many of the same phrases you're going to hear every week would apply, I guess, being that it's the playoffs ... "

Dungy asked Cousins if he talked to his teammates on the flight home about the upcoming game and the quarterback said it's something he holds as a responsibility of being a captain.

The meeting will be a bit more personal than that for Cousins, of course. He'll be facing head coach Kyle Shanahan, who knows him well.

Cousins was a rookie quarterback working under Shanahan, then the offensive coordinator, while they were both with Washington from 2012-13.

The former Michigan State player wanted to soak up as much as he could from the coach.

"When I came in as a rookie, I was a blank slate," Cousins said. "Whatever [Shanahan] and Matt LaFleur told me, I listened to, took notes, tried to apply. At the time, I don't think I fully appreciated how great of coaches they actually were.

"Looking back now, I was so lucky to have them."

[RELATED: Shanahan is a huge fan of Cousins]

But he knows it's a business and he knows he's about to face the best defense in the game.

"As captains, we've got to challenge people to say 'Hey, your preparation can't change one bit, if anything you got to ratchet it up another notch and ultimately what you need to bring to the table Saturday has got to be the best you've ever played.'"