KEENUM AND VIKINGS SHOCK SAINTS AS JAGUARS UPSET STEELERS
Keenum’s miraculous last-ditch TD pass puts Minnesota one win from Super Bowl
MINNEAPOLIS — As Case Keenum convened the Minnesota huddle with 10 seconds left, the situation staring down the Vikings was as simple as it was daunting.
With the go-ahead field goal by the New Orleans Saints that silenced this deafening stadium fresh in the air, the Vikings were well beyond any moment of anxiety. All that was left for Keenum to do on that last snap was to throw the ball up like he used to do in his Texas backyards and hope for the best.
Keenum completed his lastditch heave near the sideline Sunday on the game’s final play
to Stefon Diggs, who slithered away from the Saints for a 61-yard touchdown to give the Vikings a 29-24 win and a spot in the NFC title game at Philadelphia.
“At that point, I’m just a kid throwing a football to another big kid,” Keenum said with a smile, “and he just runs and scores.”
One more win, against the Eagles, and the Vikings will become the first team to play in a Super Bowl on its home turf. Instead of the usual win-or-go-home stakes, they’re in a winand-go-home situation.
“It never ends that way,” Diggs said. “Usually, it’s reality. It’s life. So things go, and you walk home and worry it about tomorrow.”
Saints ‘shell-shocked’
Instead, Drew Brees and the Saints were the ones trudging off the field in defeat.
“We’re still a bit shellshocked after what happened there at the end,” said Brees, who steered the Saints in position for Wil Lutz’s 43-yard kick with 25 seconds remaining that punctuated a forceful rally from a 17-point deficit that stood until 1:18 was left in the third quarter.
The field goal was set up by a fourth-and-10 completion by Brees to Willie Snead for 13 yards to the Minnesota 33 with 40 seconds left. Brees connected with Michael Thomas for two of his three touchdown passes in a span of 3:09 that spilled into the fourth quarter. The second score was set up at the Minnesota 40 by an interception by Marcus Williams, when an off-balance throw into traffic by Keenum served as his one costly moment of recklessness, a “bonehead play,” as he put it.
Keenum settled back in. He guided the Vikings to two more field goals by Kai Forbath, including a 53-yarder with 1:29 left that was his third of the game against his former team and gave them their lead back after a blocked punt by George Johnson had set up the Saints for a touchdown pass by Brees to Alvin Kamara.
Finish for the ages
Then came the play that put Keenum and Diggs in permanent rotation on the NFL’s all-time highlight reels.
This wasn’t quite Franco Harris and the Immaculate Reception for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1972 playoffs, but these Vikings are on some kind of special path after turning to Keenum in the second game of the season after original starter Sam Bradford was sidelined by a knee injury.
The Vikings were out of timeouts and nearly out of options when Keenum dropped back from his 39 and threw high into a crowd. Diggs jumped in front of Williams, who rolled awkwardly underneath Diggs during an illfated attempt at making a low tackle.
Diggs kept his balance as he landed, kept his feet in bounds and kept on running untouched into the end zone as the crowd at U.S. Bank Stadium erupted with euphoria. Keenum raced around the field, looking for anyone to hug.
Keenum, the undrafted and undersized all-time leading passer in NCAA history from the University of Houston who was making his first career playoff start and has long looked up to Brees, was having a hard time finding the words to describe the experience. He finished with 318 yards, going 25for-40, with Diggs catching 137 yards on six catches.
“It’s plays like this that you dream about your whole life,” Diggs said, “and it finally happens.”