I’ve mentioned a few times over the past week or so the fact that Vikings fans have every reason to be less-than-optimistic about the team’s ability to finish the job by winning the next two games.
For the Vikings, it seems that something always happens to derail what once seemed to be a promising season.
But Saints fans should be feeling the same way, especially when it comes to the Vikings.
In 1987, a Vikings team that had backed into the playoffs when the Cardinals lost to the Cowboys a day after the Vikings fell at home in overtime to the Redskins limped into the Superdome for a wild-card game against the 12-3 Saints, who won nine in a row after coach Jim Mora expressed his disdain for the concept of woulda, coulda, and shoulda. (They played only 15 games that season due to a players strike that wiped out one week of the season, and that ended when players started crossing the picket line after three games featuring Shane Falco and company.)
It was the Saints’ first playoff appearance in franchise history. And it looked like it would be a rout early, after Vikings quarterback Tommy Kramer fumbled a snap and Saints quarterback Bobby Hebert fired a 10-yard touchdown pass to receiver Eric Martin.
To make matters worse for Minnesota, Kramer had to leave the game due to a lingering neck injury.
And then the Vikings, led by Wade Wilson, outscored the Saints 44-3 the rest of the way.
Jim Kleinpeter of the New Orleans Times-Picayune has the details regarding the disintegration of the Saints.
Then, after the Saints finagled the first playoff win in franchise history in 2000, they traveled to Minnesota and suffered a 34-16 beat-down in the first career playoff game of Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper. Receiver Randy Moss had two catches for two touchdowns; one went for 68 yards, and the other covered 53.
The next week, however, the Giants blew out the Vikings, 41-0. At the time, New York’s offensive coordinator was Sean Payton.
Now, it’s Payton’s turn to reverse the Saints’ trend against Minnesota in key postseason games, 22 years after the Vikings shattered the best season that the franchise ever had seen.