New Orleans Saints stunned by Vikings, head home after Wild Card weekend

The No. 3 seeded New Orleans Saints were stunned by the No. 6 Minnesota Vikings (26-20) on NFL Wild Card weekend to exit the playoffs early.

The No. 6 rushing team in the NFL, the Minnesota Vikings’ Dalvin Cook was matched up against a New Orleans Saints run defense who hasn’t allowed a 100-yard rusher in 42 straight games.

Which one of the two will break, Cook or the Saints?

The game kicked off and both teams’ coaches and players entered a battle to see who deserves to advance. The Saints started off the game rocking after Janoris Jenkins forces a fumble and recovers it from Adam Theilen on the first drive.

The Saints went eight plays and settled for a field goal. On the very next possession, the Vikings drove and settled for a field goal as well. After that, the rest of the first quarter saw a punt from the Saints and a sack by Hendrickson leading to a punt from the Vikings to open up the second.

The Saints took that opportunity and went three and out off of the Vikings punt. The Minnesota Vikings returned the favor and went three and out on the next drive punting the ball back to the Saints. The Saints took a handful of plays and scored.

Taysom Hill ran for 11 yards, then threw for a 50-yard bomb to Deonte Harris which set up Alvin Kamara for short touchdown run. The Saints led 10-3. Minnesota drove the ball down to the 3-yard line before getting stopped on all three downs and forced the Vikings into a field goal.

Drew Brees threw an interception right before the two-minute warning giving the ball back to the Vikings. They capitalized before halftime on a Dalvin Cook run for a touchdown bringing the halftime score to 13-10 with the Vikings in the lead after a missed field goal from Wil Lutz.

The third quarter wasn’t as kind to the New Orleans Saints. They saw a little Vikings’ lead turn into a 20-10 lead after another Dalvin Cook touchdown. That proved to be the only score in the quarter after several other punts from both sides.

The fourth quarter needed to be owned by the Saints or else their prized playoff run was going to come to an end with the No. 6 seed. Well, it started off right. Drew Brees opened up the fourth quarter with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Taysom Hill.

The New Orleans Saints were not going down without a fight. After a Vikings punt, Drew Brees and the Saints get a shot at this game with just over seven minutes left. After multiple Taysom Hill runs, the Saints get inside of the red zone with a shot to win this game.

Drew Brees gets hit and fumbles the ball in the first play inside the red zone. The Saints have their first multiple turnover games this season. The Vikings took over with just under four minutes left. After three straight tackles for a loss, the Saints took over with 1:55 left in the fourth.

They have one drive for a field goal to tie and a touchdown to win. The drive and Wil Lutz tied the ball game with two seconds left at 20-20! Overtime decided this game here in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The Vikings won the toss and got the first possession of overtime. After a bomb from Kirk Cousins to Adam Theilen, the Vikings scored winning the game 26-20. The New Orleans Saints exited the playoffs this year in the wild card weekend after being one of the Super Bowl favorites.