The Vikings and the Saints have met four times in the playoffs. Their most recent encounter, two years ago, sparked one of the most memorable moments in league history.
The coach whose team won the Minneapolis Miracle game has no desire to talk about it as the Vikings and Saints prepare to do battle in the postseason for the fifth time.
“Come on, man,” Mike Zimmer said when asked about the shocking game-winning touchdown pass from January 2018. “We’re concentrating on the Saints this week, we don’t care about three years ago or whatever it was.”
It was only two years ago, and it’s the first thing that anyone will think of when pondering the looming reunion in New Orleans. The Vikings, obviously, don’t care about that one anymore. The Saints, in contrast, likely will relish the opportunity to exorcise the demon, to the extent it still haunts those coaches and players who were on the field in Minnesota at that fateful moment.
The Saints have done a great job this year of forgetting about two consecutive heartbreaking exits from the playoffs. But they have to be feeling a little leery about narrowly losing a bye due to the outcome of Sunday night’s 49ers-Seahawks game, thanks in part to a blunder that resulted in a delay of game penalty, a controversial defensive pass interference non-call, and the inability of Seahawks tight end Jacob Hollister to shove the ball another inch or two farther.
Really, they shouldn’t be playing this weekend. They’ll need to completely forget about what could have been (and what was in January 2018 and 2019) in order to beat an inferior team and punch a ticket to Lambeau Field.