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Football season is over, but as much as this surprises me, that doesn’t make it much easier to get over the heartbreaking loss that the Vikings endured to the eventual Super Bowl Champion Saints in the NFC Championship game. I still feel like the Vikings were the much better team, and after watching the Super Bowl this past Sunday, I really feel like the Vikings were the best team in football this year. I think that’s what makes the heartbreak slow to go away.
Here are the top 10 reasons that I believe the Vikings lost to the Saints. I ranked them in order of importance in my mind, but as I looked over my list I really felt like had any 1 item from this list not happened, the Vikings would have won the Super Bowl this year.
10. Adrian Peterson’s fumble in the Bears game
This one is obviously the one that is the hardest to judge, because it didn’t happen in the Saints game itself.
The Vikings played terribly in the first half of the Bears game in Chicago in Week 16. In the second half they came out on fire, scoring 30 points and sending the game into overtime. The Vikings got the ball in overtime and were driving when Adrian Peterson fumbled the ball, giving it to the Bears and setting them up for the game winning score.
The Vikings finished the season 1 game behind the Saints in the standings. Had the Vikings beat the Bears, they would have been tied with the Saints, and would have won the tie-breaker, earning home field advantage. The Vikings were unstoppable at home this year, and I think the NFC Championship game would have been completely different at that point.
Obviously the Saints might have played with more intensity in their week 17 match up with Carolina if they were tied with the Vikings, so maybe this is all a moot point… but then again, the Panthers were on quite a roll at the end of the season, so it’s possible that they could have beaten the Saints anyway.
9. Bernard Berrian’s fumble
Bernard Berrian was a monster in the NFC Championship game. He had one of his best games of the season. I certainly don’t want to blame him for the loss, because in a lot of ways he was one of the keys at keeping us in the game. His fumble, though (only his second as a Viking) came at a disastrous time. The Vikings were in the red zone and in great position to get some points. Had Berrian held onto the ball, the Vikings would have likely scored, and the game would not have went into overtime.
8. Terrible call on 4th and 1 “leaping” play
I don’t like to blame officiating for losses. After all, the Vikings beat themselves in a lot of ways. Had they played a sharper game, it might not have come down to bad calls. That being said, the Vikings DID beat themselves, and they needed some calls to go their way in order to win. Calls that they did not get.
The first of these calls was in overtime. The Vikings had forced a 4th and Inches, and the Saints decided to go for it. The Saints runner (I can’t remember who… Thomas, maybe?) jumped over the line and was greeted with a big hit from the Vikings linebackers. The ball came out of his hands while he was in the air. He was able to recover the ball himself, but when he hit the ground, he was holding the ball in his gut. Since his head was the only thing was across the line when he was down, and the ball wasn’t near his head, the Vikings should’ve been credited with the stop and given the ball. The ref said that he got a first down, which is understandable because it was so close to call. What’s not understandable is when it went to replay and it was clear that the ball wasn’t across the line, but the officials did not overturn the call. Even Viking-hating Joe Buck and Troy Aikman didn’t think he made it across.
7. Terrible call on Ben Leber’s pass interference.
This was the second of 3 blown calls in the game. In overtime, Ben Leber got called on pass interference on a ball that was clearly uncatchable. Leber did make too much contact past the 5 yard mark, but the rule states that if the ball is uncatchable there’s no foul. The ball was very clearly overthrown. The bad call gave the Saints a first down and continued their drive toward their winning field goal.
6. Adrian Peterson’s Fumbles
Technically, Peterson wasn’t credited in the game with a lost fumble. (Favre was credited with the botched handoff). Adrian did drop the ball 3 times, though, and even though the Vikings recovered all three of them, they still hurt the team in the long run. Adrian Peterson is the most potentially dangerous player on the team… probably in the NFL. When he starts having fumble problems, though, he becomes a liability to the team. The team can’t trust him to take the ball in important situations. There were times in the NFC Championship game that the ball should have been put in Adrian Peterson’s hands, but because he had officially dropped the ball 3 times, as well as an unofficial fourth time, the Vikings had to second guess themselves.
5. Brett Favre’s second interception
A lot of the Favre haters want to say this is typical Brett Favre and that it’s the sole reason that the Vikings lost the game. I have a hard time logically putting ALL of the blame on Favre, which is why this is only #5 on my list, but at the same time I realize that it was a stupid play by a veteran quarterback.
The Vikings needed around 5-8 yards to make the kick more comfortable for Ryan Longwell to win the game. On the play Favre could have ran for 3 or 4 yards on his own, but instead he threw across his body and across the field, got picked off, and ended the chance at the Vikings winning.
Of course, seeing the pictures of Brett’s bruises after the game, maybe he didn’t feel like he would’ve gotten the gain that the Vikings needed.
4. Lack of protection on Favre
The beginning of the season started with Favre getting knocked around a lot, but the offensive line seemed to tighten things up as the season went on (with the exception of the Carolina game in Week 15).
However, in the NFC championship game, the o-line seemed to forget everything there was to keeping their quarterback safe. Favre took brutal hit after brutal hit, and he played through it like a champ. I do have to think, though, that if Favre had been given more time, the Vikings would have scored more points.
3. Botched handoff betweeen Favre and Peterson
This one was painful… the Vikings punted to Reggie Bush right before the half, who fumbled inside the 10 yard line. The Vikings recovered in great scoring position. They called a handoff to Adrian Peterson, who has been money inside the 10 yard line all year… but this time, there’s a fumble on the play, and the Saints recover. They kept the Vikings from scoring again before the half.
Officially the fumble is credited to Favre, but Peterson was looking for his first cut already. He had his arms closed long before the ball was anywhere near him.
2. Missed call from the ref on Brett’s first interception
After the NFC Championship game was over, the NFL reviewed the play where Brett threw his first interception of the game. During the play, a Saints defender hit Brett below the knee, which is a violation of the rule known as the “Tom Brady Rule”. It should have been a 15 yard penalty, negating the interception and giving the Vikings the ball on the 19 yard line while the score was tied at 21 a piece. Assuming the Vikings could have held onto the ball, they probably would have scored here and won the game.
1. 12 men on the field
This is the penalty that I believed ruined the entire game. It was late in the fourth quarter, scored tied at 28 points, and the Vikings had the ball with a 3rd down somewhere around the 33 yard line. From there it would have been a 50 yard field goal for Ryan Longwell. It wasn’t a sure thing by any means, but Longwell is one of the best kickers in the game. The Vikings would have likely handed the ball to Chester Taylor who would have taken it to the middle of the field and tried to get 2 or 3 yards just to help Longwell out.
Instead of the easy play to set up a potential game winner, the Vikings were called for having 12 men on the field. The ball was moved back, pushing it out of the comfortable range of Longwell. So instead of the simple run up the middle, the Vikings had to try to be a little more creative, leading to Favre’s second interception on the day.
Favre noticed that there was an extra man and wisely tried to call a timeout, but he was a second too late. The ref had also just noticed, and was throwing the flag as Brett was signalling for the timeout.
Had it not been for this penalty, I really think the Vikings would have won the game, despite turning the ball over 5 times and fumbling 6 times.
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You forgot the part about how the Saints are just better than the Vikings. WHO DAT!
Nope, definitely didn’t forget that part. The Saints didn’t look better than the Vikings during the game. The Vikings beat the Saints statistically, and beat themselves with turnovers.