The Vikings didn't need a "Minneapolis Miracle" to upset the Saints in Sunday's NFC wild-card playoff game in New Orleans. Minnesota just needed a little overtime and plenty of healthy running back Dalvin Cook, who dominated in the 26-20 victory and rushed his team into a divisional round matchup at top-seeded San Francisco next Saturday (4:35 p.m. ET, NBC).
Cook ran for 94 yards and 2 TDs on 28 carries and also caught 3 passes for 36 yards to take pressure off Kirk Cousins and get the quarterback his first career playoff win. The Vikings' brand of ball-control football limited the time Cousins' counterpart, Drew Brees, was on the field, and their defense made sure the Saints didn't complete a fourth-quarter comeback.
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Here's breaking down the most important takeaways from both sides of the surprising result.
Dalvin Cook and the running game remains a reputation-changer for Kirk Cousins.
The narrative of Cousins' big-game failures will be rewritten because he threw the game-winning TD pass in overtime, but in the end, the Vikings QB (19-of-31, 238 yards,, no INTs, 2 sacks, 78.8 rating, 7.9 yards per attempt) was more of a complementary player working off Cook, which was the case in many of Minnesota's regular-season wins.
The Vikings' decision to relentlessly run on a stout Saints front that was missing key tackle Sheldon Rankins paid off big time. Cousins didn't need to force the ball downfield much, mostly throwing high-percentage, intermediate-to-deep passes to wide receiver Adam Thielen.
Cook, playing in his first playoff game, got the key chunk runs, made a couple big plays in the passing game and finished drives in the red zone. Credit offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski, a worthy head-coaching candidate, and offensive adviser Gary Kubiak for making the zone-blocking rushing attack with Cook the centerpiece of the game plan, and not deviating from it to continue to play ideal complementary football for coach Mike Zimmer's defensive-minded demands.
The 49ers, who are the Vikings' divisional playoff opponents, were stout against the run, too, but dropped to No. 17 after Week 17 and are missing key nose tackle D.J. Jones. Cousins dropping back often and facing the heat of the 49ers' pass rush with Richard Sherman looming in shutdown coverage is a bad proposition.
To stay hot and keep advancing in the playoffs, the Vikings will need be all about cooking with Cook as the main ingredient.
Adam Thielen returns to be the Vikings' true go-to wide receiver.
Down to the 43-yard catch he made to set up the game-winning TD pass to tight end Kyle Rudolph, Thielen, fully healthy from the hamstring injury that cost him six-plus games in the regular season, was uncoverable, even when mostly makred by Saints shutdown cornerback Marshon Lattimore.
Thielen, recovering from an early lost fumble and a bad holding penalty, lit up the Saints like he usually does (7 catches for 129 yards on 9 targets) while receiving mate Stefon Diggs (2 catches for 19 yards on 3 targets) was mostly quiet except for his heated arguments on the sidelines.
Thielen vs. Sherman figures to be an epic battle of savvy route-runner and crafty cover man. The Vikings missed Thielen's reliability and big-play ability a ton. Consider Cousins locked in with him again.
Taysom Hill outshines Drew Brees, leaving Saints with QB questions.
Brees mostly struggled against the Vikings' defense (26-of-33, 208 yards, TD, INT, 90.4 rating, 6.3 yards per attempt, 3 sacks, lost fumble) with a rare two-turnover game. He couldn't get going until late, when he got a spark from third-string quarterback/running back/tight end Taysom Hill.
Hill threw for 50 yards, rushed for 50 yards and also posted 25 receiving yards and a TD. The Saints needed every bit of that to stay in the game and somehow force overtime. Otherwise, they had few offensive answers around Brees, with Alvin Kamara and former Viking Latavius Murray doing little in the running game and no receiving support for Michael Thomas until tight end Jared Cook was deployed too late.
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Bress is presumed to re-sign with the Saints as a 41-year-old pending free agent, but Teddy Bridgewwater likely will be too expensive to be retained as his top backup after going 5-0 when Brees missed time with his right thumb injury.
Hill, 29, is a restricted free agent who has become an indispensable parf of the offense. His bomb to Deonte Harris showed he can throw the ball well when needed on top of running over and past people as a speedy gadget player.
Should Bridgewater walk as expected, the Saints need to figure out how to keep working in Hill behind Brees. They also need to get more answers for Brees by making wide receiver, specifically a No. 2 outside opposite Thomas and in the slot, a priority in both free agency and the 2020 NFL Draft.
