NEW ORLEANS – It wasn’t pretty. Balls were sliding all over the Superdome turf, and the mistake-prone Vikings committed five turnovers.
But in the end, the Saints ended 43 years of utter frustration with a 40-yard field goal by Garrett Hartley in overtime to lift them to a 31-28 overtime victory over the Vikings in the NFC Championship game and their first-ever berth in the Super Bowl. Hartley’s field goal split the uprights, triggering a raucous celebration among the sellout crowd of 71,276. The Saints advanced to play the Colts in Super Bowl XLIV.
It was the second NFC Championship game to go into overtime in the past three years, the last coming in 2007 when the Giants defeated the Packers to advance to the Super Bowl. With the game tied 28-28, the Vikings had a chance to win in regulation, with Brett Favre moving the ball to the Saints’ 33 with 1:06 left. But two conservative runs gained nothing, and following a timeout, the Vikings were called for having 12 men in the huddle, making it third-and-15 from the 38.
Looking to get the ball into field goal position, Favre scrambled to his right and forced an against-the-grain pass for Sidney Rice, which was intercepted by cornerback Tracy Porter, who returned it 26 yards with seven seconds left. That forced overtime. The Saints won the overtime coin toss and got a 40-yard kickoff return by Pierre Thomas to the Saints’ 39. The Saints picked up one first down on a third-down holding call on cornerback Asher Allen, and they barely picked up a first down on a fourth-down leap by Thomas to the Minnesota 41.
The Saints got a gift pass interference call on linebacker Ben Leber to move the ball to the Minnesota 29. A 12-yard pass from Brees to Robert Meacham, confirmed by the replay review by referee Pete Morelli, put the Saints at the Viking 22. Hartley, who began the year on a league-imposed suspension for substance abuse, then came in and nailed the game-winning kick.
Brett Favre was nearly knocked out of the game on a sack early in the second half. He could barely walk and his 40-year-old chest had bruises on top of bruises. But there was nothing wrong with his heart or his right arm. Late in the third quarter, the Saints sent Favre to the bench with a left ankle sprain on a high-low sandwich hit by Bobby McCray and Remi Ayodele, and it looked like they had knocked Favre out. On the play, Favre’s hurried pass was picked off by linebacker Jonathan Vilma, and Favre went to the bench writhing in pain.
But after getting a quick tape job, Favre limped back onto the field on the Vikings’ next possession. But Minnesota’s woeful ballhandling continued. Percy Harvin gave ground on a sweep, lost the ball on a hit by Will Smith, and the ball wriggled free until defensive tackle Remi Ayodele picked it up at the 12 and returned it to the Vikings’ 7. Three plays later, Brees threw a check-down pass to Bush in the right flat. The official initially ruled Bush had been knocked out just short of the goal-line, but Saints coach Sean Payton won a challenge that Bush had pushed the ball over the goal just inside the pylon.
The score put the Saints up 28-21 with 12:39 left.
Favre responded with incredible grit, completing a 30-yard pass to Bernard Berrian on third-and-10 to give Minnesota a first down at the Saints’ 20. But the Vikings turned it over again two plays later on a fumble by Berrian. It was the sixth Viking fumble of the game, and the third one that they lost.
The Vikings tied the game, 28-28, on a 2-yard run by Peterson with 4:58 left. On the 57-yard drive, Favre completed a 16-yard strike against a heavy blitz to Visanthe Shiancoe on third-and-6. A pass interference penalty against Porter on Berrian in the end zone set up Minnesota for the tying score.
The Saints took their first lead, 21-14, after Courtney Roby gave them excellent field position by taking the second-half kickoff 61 yards to the Minnesota 37. Four plays later, Thomas was in the end zone on a nine-yard run. The replay showed that Thomas’ knee hit the ground before he reached the ball over the goal, but the Vikings did not challenge the play.
The Vikings came right back to tie it at 21. But they had to overcome another Peterson fumble. The tailback dropped the ball at the Saints’ 40 on a hit by Jonathan Vilma, and linebacker Scott Shanle could have fallen on the ball, but when he tried to pick it up, the Vikings recovered. Given that reprieve, Favre went to work, finding tight end Visanthe Shiancoe in the left corner for a 21-yard gain to the Saints’ 1. On the next play, Peterson knotted the game with a burst off left guard.
The game started like a classic offensive shootout, but both offenses finally cooled off in the second quarter. The Vikings scored touchdowns on their first two possessions, and the Saints countered with two touchdowns on its first three series for a 14-14 tie.
Favre decided to combat the high-decibel Superdome crowd by opening the game with five straight passes, all off three-step drops, to negate the Saints’ pass rush. He was 6-of-7 for 47 yards on an 80-yard, 10-play drive to open the game and never had to face a third down. The payoff came on 28-yard burst up the middle on a draw play by Peterson, who cut back against the grain to the left and found wide open spaces in the Saints’ secondary.
Brees wasted little time in evening the score 7-7, engineering a seven-play, 76-yard drive that was culminated by a 38-yard screen pass to Pierre Thomas. On the scoring play, Thomas got excellent downfield blocks by tight end David Thomas and right guard Jahri Evans.
That hardly slowed down the Vikings. Favre took his team 73 yards in 10 plays, connecting with Rice on a five-yard pass on third down for a 14-7 lead. The Saints aided the drive by committing three penalties for 25 yards, including a late hit on Favre by McCray that left the 40-year-old quarterback gasping for air. The Saints also gave the Vikings a first down with a defensive holding call against cornerback Randall Gay on third down.
The Saints tied it two series later with a 63-yard, seven play drive, capped by Brees’ 9-yard pass to Devery Henderson. The big play on the drive a 28-yard catch and run by Reggie Bush on third-and-9, a play on which Bush was isolated against linebacker Ben Leber.
The Vikings wasted a golden opportunity late in the first half when Bush foolishly tried to advance a punt against tight coverage and wound up muffing the ball at the Saints’ 10-yard line with 1:13 left. But after Peterson gained six yards to the 4, he never got the handoff on the next play from Favre, and the fumble was recovered by linebacker Scott Fujita.
The Saints had dodged a major bullet. The Vikings, so hot in the early going, ended the half with four consecutive punts and a lost fumble.