The Minnesota Vikings will be hosting the New Orleans Saints at Mall of America Field in the Metrodome this Sunday December 18th at Noon. The Vikings have had a tough year and it will be interesting to see how they do against the Saints who have a good shot at winning the NFC South division. The Saints, who are currently tied with San Francisco, have had a bit of a tough time on the road this year. With a 4 and 3 record away from the Superdome the Saints hope to change that. The San Francisco 49ers currently have the top spot in the division despite the fact that both teams are tied. This is due to the 49ers 8 and 2 conference record. The Saints who are 6-3 in conference play are in a must win situation. If Atlanta loses to Jacksonville on Thursday New Orleans can clinch it's 3rd division title in six seasons by beating Minnesota.
If Adrian Peterson is back from his ankle injury the Vikings will have one huge positive going for them. Having their top running back in the game will certainly allow them to gain some momentum in their rushing attacke on the heels of Joe Webb's 109 rushing yards on seven carries, including a 65 yard touchdown run. Although, the Vikings have had Peterson on the field in their past two match up against the Saints and still were beat. With Christian Ponders two costly turnovers in the loss to Detroit, as well as, the two passing touchdowns that Minnesota gave up last week. It will be crucial that the Vikings do their best to not turn the ball over. The Vikings have proved that they have the potential to be a winning team with their spectacular effort attempting a comeback last weekend. If they can avoid the turnovers it is very possible they will have a good shot at holding their own on Sunday. Vikings Head Coach Leslie Frazier said that Christian Ponder will start Sunday if healthy despite Joe Webb's outstanding performance. Coming off of five straight losses they really have nothing at stake other than working on developing young players such as Christian Ponder who was their top draft pick.
In a complete opposite situation is the Saints, who are coming off of a five game winning streak and find themselves in a situation where they can clinch the NFC South with a win over the Vikings and a Falcons loss. The Saints had a late comeback win over Tennessee last week 22-17, which has allowed them to to remain a playoff contender. With a pair of fourth quarter touch down passes to Marcues Colston and the Saints stopping Tennessee in Red Zone on the five yard line, New Orleans made the playoffs for a third straight year. The Chicago loss to Denver in overtime helped secure the clinch and allowed New Orleans to tie a team record. Drew Brees has 4368 passing yards this year which leads the NFL. He also has thrown a touchdown in forty consecutive Saints games, which is seven short of Johnny Unitas record. Brees is also in the midst of a NFL record streak of 33 games with twenty plus completions. He is making his NFL Metrodome debut against Minnesota's 26th ranked pass defense which is nearly certain to allow him to extend his record. Brees' only other game play at the Metrodome was a 33-28 win with Purdue over the University of Minnesota.
Strong rivals since the 2009 NFC championship in which the Saints won 31-28 in overtime, there continues to be bad blood between the teams. That win over the Vikings lead the Saints to their first Super Bowl Championships. It's clear that the Vikings Saints match up will be a good one on Sunday and it will be interesting to see how everything ends up.
