Vikings-Saints Recap

- Before discussing the Vikings, lets tip our cap to the Saints. Their offense struggled, but they avoided the big mistakes for the most part, forced many of those turnovers, made the plays when they had to, and when the game was on the line, for the first time in these playoffs, their kicker was clutch, and drained that kick that started the biggest party in Bourbon Street history.

- Yes the officiating was questionable to say the least in OT to say the least, but it never should have come down to that.

- When you turn the football over 5 Times, with 3 more fumbles that you were lucky enough to recover, but still lost tons of yardage on, you Do Not deserve to win the football game, I don't care how badly you outplayed the other team. Really feel bad for the Vikings D who played a great game, and locked down Brees & Co. in the second half, despite their offense continuously putting them in compromising spots.

- THE End of Regulation: WAY too conservative on the first and second down. The Vikings' receivers were getting good separation from the Saints DB's, and they should have run some quick outs or slants to try and make it a more manageable FG attempt for Longwell. Then lost amidst the officiating controversy and the turnovers, was what I thought was the biggest play of the game, which was the inexplicable, unforgivable "12 men" penalty against the Vikes COMING out of a timeout. If they didn't gain another yard, it would have been a 50 yard attempt, just run the ball up the middle, get another 2-3 yards, and have a 47-48 yarder which is definitely makable. But the penalty FORCED the Vikings into a passing situation, and well the rest is history. Obviously a Horrible decision, but one that should have been avoided.

- While I was rooting for the Saints, my heart really goes out to Vikings fans. I remember the 97/98 Championship game where their kicker missed a short FG, and then Atlanta shipped the game in OT. The best team in NFL history to not make the Super Bowl, and this game just continues their history of frustration and heartbreak in Championship games. Still a GREAT GAME! Hope the Super Bowl is half the game that this one was.