Can The Saints Have Their Own Minnesota Miracle This Year?

• The Saints have been bounced from the playoffs in back to back years in incredulous ways.
• With a healthy Dalvin Cook, the Vikings could pose a problem against the Saints.
• The Saints are more than a touchdown favorite over the Vikings, as they play at home in the dome.

NEW ORLEANS – No team has had as much bad luck as the New Orleans Saints in the past few postseason runs.

Despite winning their division for the third straight season, the New Orleans Saints are hesitant to get too far ahead of themselves. Any true fan of the Saints understands that the game is not over until the clock strikes 0:00, as last-minute crazed scenarios have flooded this organization’s beliefs that they can't return (and win) the Super Bowl.

Last season, the infamous non-pass interference call in the red zone against the LA Rams kept the Saints from running the clock to expiration and kicking a short game-winning field goal.

The clear and blatant interference was unable to be reviewed at the time, was the reason that the NFL made pass interference calls reviewable and could be struck as the reason why the Saints did not win the NFC Championship last year.

The season before, the Saints traveled to Minnesota in the divisional round, where the game was a bettor’s dream. The Minnesota Vikings jumped out to a 17-0 lead by halftime but found themselves crumbling in the second half. New Orleans took their first lead of the game with 3:01 left on an Alvin Kamara receiving touchdown.

Both teams added a field goal to the score shortly after and with only 25 seconds left, the Saints looked ready to head to the NFC Championship. However, on the final play, the Vikings passed deep to the right side of the field where Stefon Diggs jumped to make a sideline catch.

At the same moment, Saints’ safety Marcus Williams dove to bring down Diggs but slightly missed, hitting his own teammate instead. This left Diggs with the ability to land and finish off the 61-yard Minneapolis Miracle.

The Saints Need Their Own Lucky Play

The Saints now come into the 2020 NFL playoffs with a focused goal – a Super Bowl. Between the last two seasons, no team has suffered as much defeat on crazed last-minute plays than New Orleans. While this may put some teams out of the championship mindset, coach Sean Peyton knows this has made his team stronger and more focused on finishing each game.

With this, the 3-seed Saints (-410) are eight-point favorites against the Vikings (+325). Vikings running back Dalvin Cook is set to play at full strength and can be a downfall for the Saints’ defense.

However, the Saints and their fourth-ranked rushing defense will look to slow down Cook and the Vikings. If they can keep the Pro Bowl running back in check, the Saints may not need a lucky play to win the game.

Betting on the Saints seems to be the play, as they are coming into the wild card round on a three-game win streak. For the Vikings, they are on a two-game losing streak, though injuries were the reason for the team only scoring 29 points in two games.

Still, those looking to bet on the Super Bowl may find a great opportunity at this moment to bet on the Saints to win it all. Assuming they beat the Vikings, the odds for New Orleans will only become closer to even. But, bettors who are acting anticipatorily can find themselves heavily rewarded.