Vikings’ stunning TD shocks Saints
Last-minute hero: ‘I don’t stop playing till the clock hit zero’
The Minnesota Vikings put the New Orleans Saints to bed for the winter with one of the most dramatic finishes in NFL history in front of 66,612 maniacs dressed in purple.
With the final seconds ticking off the clock, their season and Super Bowl dreams looking about over, quarterback Case Keenum found Stefon Diggs down the sideline for what turned out to be a 61-yard touchdown to give the Vikings a stunning 29-24 victory.
“I’m just thankful,” Diggs said. “They count us out all the time, nobody thinking we can do it. This game was over. I don’t stop playing till the clock hit zero — that’s it.”
Minnesota moves on to play the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC championship game next Sunday in Philadelphia, hoping to become the first team to play for the Super Bowl in its home stadium with the big game in Minneapolis next month.
“Wow,” Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer said as he arrived at the podium. “It was a heck of a game, wasn’t it? And the good guys won.”
Led by their top-ranked defence, the Vikings silenced the league’s No. 2 offence for almost three full quarters before Drew Brees performed his own bit of magic. The quarterback, who was intercepted twice in the first half, threw three TD passes — the first with 1:18 left in the third quarter and the last with 3:01 left in the game — to put the Saints on top for the first time.
Kai Forbath had the Vikings back ahead with a 53-yard field goal and 1:29 to go, but Wil Lutz nailed a 43-yarder to seemingly seal Minnesota’s fate.
Keenum and the Vikings took over again with 25 seconds left. After a couple of plays, even their faint hopes appeared lost.
But Diggs settled under coverage and pulled the ball around the New Orleans 40, and just when it looked like he was going to step out of bounds to stop the clock came the totally unexpected. Trying to take down Diggs, Saints safety Marcus Williams not only whiffed, but also took out the cornerback. Diggs looked up, saw daylight, stayed on his feet and raced to the end zone. Utter jubilation followed. “This will take a while to get over,” said Saints head coach Sean Payton, who fell to 1-5 on the road in playoff games.
The Vikings won the coin toss and elected to put their dominant defence on the field first. The tone was set. They led 17-0 before New Orleans picked up its second first down.
Though only defensive end Brian Robison remains from the 2009 team that lost in overtime of the NFC championship game in New Orleans, the Vikings exacted some revenge on Brees and the Saints, at least for their long-frustrated fans.