Why It Could Be Over For The Saints and Vikings...

    The Minnesota Vikings have lost 3 out of their last 4 games. Two were to teams with a losing record, the Carolina Panthers and the Chicago Bears. Carolina has come on pretty strong lately and could cause even more problems to the New Orleans Saints in week 17 who's lost 2 out of their last 3 games. Part of the Vikings problem is the Adrien Peterson has only averaged 3.0 ypc over the last four games. Without Peterson the HAVE to rely and Favre. Sidney Rice and Percy Harvin can be serious threats but with Favre leading the NFL in most interceptions in history they need to be able to run the ball especially if they're going to make it through the playoffs against some of the tougher defenses, not only that but with teams like Arizona and New Orleans, who are fairly week against the pass but are quite strong at forcing turnovers against the pass  you dont want to give those two offenses the ball. There's a debate in New Orleans on whether or not they should rest their starters in week 17 having wrapped up home field advantage. I'd like to see them rest to try and keep their starters healthy and get some of their injured players healthier. But if they do not win in Carolina this weekend they will be on a 3 game losing streak and that could leave a bad taste in their mouths for near a month before they play again. If they go in to Carolina and win, remain healthy, and gain some confidence back they could be able roll in to the playoffs with a little swagger again. Carolina will NOT lay down for them. This team has come on strong lately, beating Minnesota and the New York Giants by fair margins and with the Saints weak run defense it could be trouble for them with Stewart running for over 100 yards on Minnesota then over 200 yards against the New York Giants, not to mention that Matt Moore has been playing good as well. So I'm going to "flip flop" and instead of saying they need to rest like I've been stressing, they need to win this game. The same goes for Minnesota. Some are saying it's good to struggle just before entering the playoffs so they can get it out of the way but it also could send a team in to "panic mode" and cause even more problems.