Saints Clinch No. 1 Seed, Home-Field Advantage in Playoffs with Steelers Win

The New Orleans Saints clinched home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs on Sunday with a 31-28 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Drew Brees put the Saints ahead for good with a touchdown pass to Michael Thomas with 1:25 remaining, and the New Orleans defense delivered by forcing a JuJu Smith-Schuster fumble on Pittsburgh's final drive.

Sunday's victory means the rest of the NFC will have to deal with the raucous crowd inside the dome if they plan on reaching Super Bowl LIII. New Orleans hasn't lost in front of its home fans since a season-opening defeat at the hands of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and four of its six wins in the venue have come by double digits.

It appeared as if the Steelers were going to keep the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Rams alive in the race for a first-round bye and home-field advantage with the Saints when they held a 28-24 lead and the ball in the fourth quarter. However, a fake punt on their penultimate possession set up the Saints with favorable field position for their eventual winning touchdown.

Now that New Orleans has locked up home-field advantage, attention turns to a couple of other races in the NFC.

The Rams hold a one-game lead over the Bears in the battle for the No. 2 seed and the other first-round bye, although Chicago would have the tiebreaker thanks to its head-to-head win. The 8-6 Seattle Seahawks, 8-6-1 Minnesota Vikings and 8-7 Philadelphia Eagles are also fighting for the two wild-card spots.

The winner of those races will need to figure out a way to counter Brees, Thomas, Alvin Kamara, Mark Ingram and the rest of the Saints in front of a hostile crowd come playoff time.