After spending wild-card weekend as spectators, the Minnesota Vikings have a rematch of their season opener when they host the New Orleans Saints on Jan. 14 in the NFC divisional round at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Reasons to be excited: The Vikings have the best defense in the NFL. No other team allowed fewer yards (275.9) or points (15.8) per game in 2017 and is as stacked from its front seven to its secondary than Minnesota. The Vikings boasted great defenses overs the years, but this unit is elite. What better way to sum up the strength of this defense than its final goal-line stand against Chicago in Week 17 when the Vikings stopped the Bears six straight times inside the 5-yard line? The time away ahead of Minnesota’s first-round bye gave players like Kyle Rudolph, Xavier Rhodes, Pat Elflein and others dealing with nagging injuries some much-needed rest. The offensive line has handled injuries admirably this season while helping set up the league's No. 7 rushing attack. With the time to get Elflein healthy and back in the lineup, the Vikings will need to decide whether they keep Jeremiah Sirles at left guard next Sunday or plug Joe Berger into that spot (last week’s center), keep Mike Remmers at right guard and Rashod Hill at right tackle and have all of their reserve players ready to go.
Reasons to be concerned: None of the Vikings' past three wins were ever in question, but the offense missed some shots downfield that it normally makes and hasn’t been as dominant on third down. Case Keenum has gotten the most out of his playmakers and magnified his incredible season with the highest Total QBR against the blitz and how efficient he has been at making plays outside of the pocket. The thing that separates this team from others in the playoffs? This offense doesn’t need to score big to win (but let’s not forget the Vikings still put up 23 points on a very good Bears defense last week). Keenum & Co. have shown they can win games on their own, but with a defense this good, there shouldn’t be any real panic if the offense doesn’t strike heavy.
What’s next: The Saints' defense looks a lot different now than it did Week 1 when it made way for Sam Bradford’s dominating three-touchdown, 346-yard passing day and allowed Dalvin Cook to rush for 127 yards. New Orleans held off a late push from Carolina in the wild-card round, highlighted by a big pass breakup by Marshon Lattimore late on the Panthers’ last-ditch effort to reach the end zone (Lattimore led all rookies with five interceptions this season) and Cam Jordan shoving two linemen out of the way to get to Cam Newton and force intentional grounding. Minnesota has a 7-1 record at U.S. Bank Stadium and will rely heavily on that home-field advantage to get to the NFC Championship Game for the first time since 2009 against the team they played the last time they were there.