You like that? Cousins leads Vikings to 26-20 playoff win at Saints in overtime thriller
Kirk Cousins #8 of the Minnesota Vikings reacts after defeating the New Orleans Saints 26-20 in the NFC Wild Card Playoff game at Mercedes Benz Superdome on January 05, 2020 in New Orleans, Louisiana. ((Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images))
MINNEAPOLIS - The Minnesota Vikings are headed to the NFC Divisional Playoffs in San Francisco after Kirk Cousins hit Kyle Rudolph for a 4-yard touchdown in overtime to claim a 26-20 win over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday in the Superdome, one of the most hostile environments in the NFL.
It's Rudolph's seventh touchdown of the season, and it came at the perfect time to extend the Vikings season at least one more week. It's the second time in the last three years the Vikings have beaten the Saints on a walk-off touchdown. Up next is a trip to the West Coast to face the NFC's No. 1 seed, the 49ers, Saturday afternoon.
"I’m so happy, so many guys in that locker room. This is what we play for. This is why we work as hard as we do. This is why we’ve done everything from April 15 until now, to play big in the playoffs and we’re going to San Francisco next week," Rudolph said.
Cousins was 19-of-31 passing for 242 yards, and the biggest touchdown of his career with the Vikings. Dalvin Cook finished with 130 total yards and two rushing touchdowns in his first game back from a shoulder injury.
It's Cousins' first career playoff win.
"You just keep chasing the next mountain," Cousins said after the win.
The Vikings defense pressured Drew Brees all afternoon and kept the Saints’ offense in check, until they inevitably scored 10 points in the fourth quarter to force overtime. Cousins never let the Saints touch the ball in the extra session. He hit Stefon Diggs on a slant for a key first down on a third-and-1, and connected with Adam Thielen for a 43-yard play down to the New Orleans’ 2-yard line.
"You gotta take your shots when you're trying to win a game," Vikings coach Mike Zimmer told reporters after the game when asked about the throw to Thielen.
With the ball 1st-and-goal at the Saints' 2-yard line, two Cook rushing attempts went backwards. On third-and-goal at the 4-yard line, Cousins threw a fade for Rudolph in the back corner of the end zone. Rudolph and the defender exchanged hand fighting and grabbing before the he came down with the game-winning score. The score was confirmed after a review, and officials said there was not enough contact to warrant a flag for offensive pass interference.
The $84 million quarterback, facing plenty of scrutiny for struggling in big games, engineered the 75-yard touchdown drive with the season on the line. He went 4-of-5 on the drive for 63 yards, and for at least one week, the doubters are silenced. The Vikings entered the game 7.5-point underdogs, but anything can happen in the playoffs.
"Really proud of the way we kept playing and found a way at the end," Cousins said.
The Vikings avoided disaster early, holding New Orleans to a field goal after an Thielen fumble on the opening drive gave the Saints the ball in Vikings territory. New Orleans took a 10-3 lead in the second quarter on Alvin Kamara's 4-yard touchdown run, set up by Taysom Hill's 50-yard completion to Deonte Harris, who had beaten Xavier Rhodes in coverage.
After answering with a field goal to get the Vikings within 10-6, Cousins engineered a scoring drive before the end of the first half. He hit Thielen twice for 32 yards before Cook scored from five yards out on a cut back, and the Vikings had weathered early adversity to lead 13-10 at the half.
Cook, who hadn't played since exiting early in the third quarter of the win over the Chargers, had 104 total yards in the first half. The Vikings defense held the Brees to 64 passing yards.
The Vikings increased their lead to 20-10 with three minutes left in the third quarter after Cook got his second touchdown of the game on 2nd-and-goal from the 1. The drive was set up after Cousins hit Thielen for 34 yards, then Stefon Diggs for his first catch of the game down to the 1-yard line.
Minnesota had multiple chances in the fourth quarter to put the game away, but went conservative on offense and left the result in the hands of the defense against Brees and the Saints.
Brees wouldn’t go down without a fight. He hit Hill, who got behind safety Harrison Smith, for a 20-yard touchdown to get the Saints within 20-17 with 10:31 left. The Saints forced a Vikings’ punt, and Brees got them into field goal range. Will Lutz, who missed from 43 yards before the end of the first half, connected from 49 yards out to send the game to overtime at 20-20.
The Vikings dodged a major bullet late in regulation. The Saints appeared to score a go-ahead touchdown, recovering a Cook fumble and taking it for a touchdown. But the play game back after a review showed Cook's left knee and arm were down by contact just before the ball came loose.
The Vikings scratched their conservative plan in the fourth quarter, and put the game in Cousins’ hands in overtime. After Everson Griffen, who had 1.5 sacks on the day and pressured Brees most of the game, won the coin toss, Cousins took the Vikings down the field.
Thielen made his biggest of seven catches on the day for 43 yards down to the 2-yard line, setting up the Cousins to Rudolph heroics. Thielen finished with seven catches for 129 yards, his most since the Vikings' Week 5 win over the New York Giants.
"We wanted to go win, I told a bunch of defensive guys we're not leaving nothing in the bag," Zimmer said.
In the locker room celebration after the win, Cousins said it was a team effort, then was mobbed by his teammates after saying, “I’ve got three words for you: You like that?!”