New Orleans Saints clinch NFC South for record fourth straight year

With their dominating 52-33 victory over the Vikings, the New Orleans Saints not only eliminated them from the postseason but made history as well.

The New Orleans Saints set history with their fourth consecutive NFC South title on Friday, surpassing the Panthers, who owned the division for three straight seasons back when Cam Newton was a perennial MVP candidate.

The NFC South first started in 2002. It was first claimed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Since then, the Saints have been the division’s best team, despite going through a few rough periods during the late 2000s. New Orleans has seven division titles with no other team having more than five to their name.

That said, it hasn’t always been the Saints as the leaders, but in recent history, it has been.

They’ve won the last three seasons with a combined 37-11 record. Likely to end 2020 with 12 wins and four losses, the Saints will hope for a better end to their dominance, having lost before reaching the Super Bowl in each of the last three seasons.

After a 1-2 start to this season, many didn’t think the Saints had it in them. However, the team was able to string together nine straight victories. They did lose two straight before taking down the Vikings in Week 16.

Having clinched a playoff berth weeks ago, the Saints, having gone through a two-game losing streak before dropping 52 points on the Vikings, dropped out of the conference’s top seed, something they craved after missing a first-round bye a season ago and losing in the Wild Card round.

New Orleans has yet to lose in their divisional play, and they’ll look to go undefeated with a relatively easy matchup against the Panthers next weekend.

While securing their division, they must beat out the winner of the NFC West for the second seed in order to keep their home-field advantage throughout the first two postseason games.

Take down Carolina, then prepare for the postseason — get ready, Saints’ fans, it’s about to get interesting.