Things didn’t go as planned for the New Orleans Saints. They entered the playoffs as a heavy favorite to go the distance and win the Super Bowl, but the Minnesota Vikings hit them in the mouth, took the lead, and didn’t let go, even if the Saints rallied late to force the game to overtime. A touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins to Kyle Rudolph on third down from the goal-line stunned the Saints defense, and gave Minnesota the 26-20 victory.
The Saints just didn’t execute well. Their offensive line, stocked with Pro Bowl and All-Pro talent, was bullied by an admittedly strong Vikings defensive line. Left guard Andrus Peat has been the weak link in that chain for years, and on Sunday, he broke. While Drew Brees didn’t have his sharpest day at quarterback, too often he wasn’t given any time to even read the field before his vision filled with purple jerseys.
And it’s not like Vikings coach Mike Zimmer did anything exotic, groundbreaking, or seriously creative. He moved his best pass rushers inside so that they would have a speed-to-power advantage over the Saints guards. New Orleans’ big men up front never really struggled to mirror their opponents or move around; they simply failed to win one-on-one battles. It was a battle of fundamentals that the Vikings won.
It’s disappointing to see the Saints’ season end this way. After everything they’ve fought through — injuries to everyone from rookie backup linebackers to the franchise quarterback, suspensions before and during the season, tough-to-swallow losses to longtime rivals — they’ve gone out with a whimper. It’s almost anticlimactic. Even on Sunday they rallied around a defense that came through in so many clutch moments and rode a furious spark from do-it-all quarterback Taysom Hill. But it wasn’t enough when the offense couldn’t pick itself up off the floor.
The good news is that they’ll be back. Brees played so well this season that it’s impossible to think he’ll leave the game behind, not with so much unfinished business. The Saints’ core players are all either young or under contract for the foreseeable future. Next year’s schedule compares favorably to the season they just had. They’ll enter the 2020 offseason just as likely to go all the way as they were in this one.
But that disappointment can’t be overlooked. They shouldn’t be going into a long offseason looking to chase that elusive second Super Bowl trophy. They should be defending a championship and hoping to secure a third. Instead, the Saints are back in familiar territory — as underachievers.
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