{"id":41749,"date":"2018-01-15T05:00:24","date_gmt":"2018-01-15T10:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/?p=41749"},"modified":"2018-01-14T22:11:06","modified_gmt":"2018-01-15T03:11:06","slug":"vikings-beat-new-orleans-saints-29-24-in-improbable-finish-to-advance-to-nfc-championship-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/2018\/01\/15\/vikings-beat-new-orleans-saints-29-24-in-improbable-finish-to-advance-to-nfc-championship-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Vikings beat New Orleans Saints 29-24 in improbable finish to advance to NFC Championship game"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:left; padding: 0px 10px 0px 0px\" src=\"http:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Viking_Head.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Viking_Head\" width=\"80\" height=\"81\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-10672\" \/>The first half played out pretty much exactly as Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer game-planned it, allowing the New Orleans Saints no chance to score and reaching halftime with a 17-point lead. The second half didn&#8217;t go as anybody game-planned it, right down to the so-improbable-that-no-movie-director-would-ever-script-it last-second winning touchdown to clinch the game for Minnesota:<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Stefon Diggs sends the Vikings to the NFC Championship with one of the craziest plays in NFL history! <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NOvsMIN?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#NOvsMIN<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/FucVlOazmW\">pic.twitter.com\/FucVlOazmW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NFLonFOX\/status\/952709668555579392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 15, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">here&#39;s Paul Allen&#39;s (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PAOnTheMic?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@PAOnTheMic<\/a>) nutso call for the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Vikings?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Vikings<\/a> win <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NOvsMIN?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#NOvsMIN<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gNev8sSDg2\">pic.twitter.com\/gNev8sSDg2<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Corey Marra (@coribald) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/coribald\/status\/952718190861107201?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 15, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><em>1500ESPN<\/em>&#8216;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.1500espn.com\/vikings-2\/2018\/01\/magic-strikes-keenum-leads-incredible-win-saints\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Matthew Coller<\/a> describes the unfamiliar magic of that final drive:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>That left the Vikings down 21-20 with the ball in Keenum\u2019s hands. He\u2019d come through in big situations and big games before this year in Chicago, in Atlanta, home against Los Angeles. He\u2019d have to do it on a much bigger stage.<\/p>\n<p>He floated another throw. It came down in the hands of his favorite receiver Adam Thielen, who made an all-time great catch rising up over shutdown cornerback Marshone Lattimore.<\/p>\n<p>Kicker Kai Forbath nailed his boot through the middle of the uprights, but Brees had an answer, hitting on a fourth-and-6 to set up a go-ahead field goal with 29 seconds remaining.<\/p>\n<p>If the previous drive was the biggest spot of his life, this one quickly took over the No. 1 spot. Keenum hit Stefon Diggs to push the ball to the 39-yard line. Then on third-and-10, the most un-Vikings thing ever happened: Magic, not heartbreak.<\/p>\n<p>Diggs got behind the Saints\u2019 safety, leaped up and took a floating pass all the way to the end zone.<\/p>\n<p>The Vikings rushed the field. Stefon Diggs threw his helmet in celebration.<\/p>\n<p>Keenum\u2019s comeback proved that he could beat a Hall of Famer in a playoff game \u2013 even if it was ugly at times. Again,  the Vikings proved this year is different. Very, very different.<\/p>\n<p>But you can guarantee Zimmer won\u2019t be getting any sleep this week.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">If it seemed unprecedented, it\u2019s because it was: Case Keenum to Stefon Diggs to end game was first ever \u201cwalk-off\u201d touchdown in the 4th quarter of a postseason game, per Elias.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AdamSchefter\/status\/952726471579185153?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 15, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>At <em>Zone Coverage<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/zonecoverage.com\/2018\/video\/watch-reaction-to-vikings-nail-biter-over-saints-via-93x\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Arif Hasan<\/a> records his immediate post-game reactions.<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">CHASER:<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/d3jqmQGHoS\">https:\/\/t.co\/d3jqmQGHoS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ted Glover (@purplebuckeye) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/purplebuckeye\/status\/952727355780460546?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 15, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first half played out pretty much exactly as Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer game-planned it, allowing the New Orleans Saints no chance to score and reaching halftime with a 17-point lead. The second half didn&#8217;t go as anybody game-planned it, right down to the so-improbable-that-no-movie-director-would-ever-script-it last-second winning touchdown to clinch the game for Minnesota: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1169,126,475,179,1042],"class_list":["post-41749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-football","tag-casekeenum","tag-minnesotavikings","tag-neworleans","tag-nfl","tag-stefondiggs"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/favicon.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hpV6-aRn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41749"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41753,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41749\/revisions\/41753"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}