Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints: Third quarter recap and fourth quarter discussion

We’re down to the final quarter of this NFC Wild Card playoff contest, and your Minnesota Vikings lead the heavily-favored New Orleans Saints by a score of 20-10.

The Saints got the second half kickoff, but were forced to punt it away after an outstanding play by Eric Kendricks to drop Alvin Kamara for a loss on a 3rd-and-1 play. The Vikings’ offense responded with a three-and-out to give New Orleans the ball right back.

Everson Griffen got to Brees for his second sack of the afternoon to put the Saints in a hole, and they wound up with a three-and-out of their own to give the Vikings the ball back.

The Vikings got a big third-down conversion on the next drive, as Kirk Cousins hit Adam Thielen for 34 yards to put the ball at the New Orleans 19. A few plays later, Cousins found Stefon Diggs at the 1-yard line to set up first-and-goal. Two plays later, Dalvin Cook found the end zone for the second time today to make the score 20-10.

The Saints then went three-and-out, and appeared to pick up the first down on a fake punt. . .but were called for a false start to negate it. They punted the ball back to the Vikings after all.

Unfortunately, the Vikings had a fairly disastrous series following the punt, and as we move to the fourth quarter, the Vikings will line up to punt it away on 4th-and-8 from their own 36.

The Minnesota Vikings are one quarter away from advancing to the NFC Divisional Playoffs, as they lead the New Orleans Saints by a score of 20-10. Can they hold on for a huge upset win?