The Vikings Handed the Saints an NFC Championship and a Super Bowl

The Vikings pretty much gave the game away to the Saints and at the end the Saints deserved the win.

I know Packers fans must feel completely vindicated with Brett Favre ending (Packers hoping) his Viking career the same way he ended his Packer career; with his last pass being an interception in the NFC Championship Game.

As much as it’s easy to drop all the blame on Favre, this was a complete team collapse and Favre added the last nail to the proverbial coffin with the last INT.

Everyone knows I picked the Vikings to win not just this game but the Super Bowl as well. With the game done I still think I made the right call.

The Vikings played their second worst game of the season (with the worst being the Dec. 6 30-17 loss to the Cardinals) and the Saints played an almost perfect game and won by a field goal in overtime at home.

I am still not sold on the Saints being a good team—more of them being a lucky bunch of guys. But you know what they say: It's better to be lucky than to be good.

The Vikings couldn’t stop shooting themselves in the foot; five fumbles, Favre’s two INTs, and the Vikings defense's inability to reach Drew Brees gave him an eternity to find open receivers and pick the Vikings defense apart.

But the defining moment for the Saints happened before the Saints' last drive of regulation when Brees called a team huddle on the sidelines; at that point I knew my pick of the Vikings wasn’t going to work out. That leadership displayed by Brees was the difference in the game from that point on.

I must congratulate the Saints defense; they really made Brett Favre look like he was 40. They hit him hard and they hit him often and it made Favre turn the ball over twice.

But Favre deserves a lot of credit too; no quarterback in the league today could have taken that much beating and kept popping up time after time again. If the Saints are able to reach Peyton Manning in the same way the Colts might just be in trouble.

Adrian Peterson is the darling of the NFL and the so called second coming of Emmitt Smith. For the last three seasons I’ve been saying Peterson is a very good running back but we should stop comparing him to Emmitt Smith.

Though he scored three touchdowns in this game he also fumbled the ball four times (though the fumble on a handoff from Favre on the Vikings' last drive of the half was credited to Favre we all know that was AP’s fault; okay, I know).

It's not just that he fumbles the ball a lot (22 fumbles in three seasons). It's when he does it—at the point when the team can’t afford to have the ball turned over.

Peterson no doubt will eventually have to learn how to hold on to the ball like Tiki Barber. Till then, can we please hold off on the “best ever” label?

So I am 8-2 with the Colts win and the Vikings loss. I thought I'll do better than last year’s 9-2 record. Well, I still have the Super Bowl to pick.

For now, congratulations Saints nation.

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