The season opener for the New Orleans Saints (0-1) was less than ideal on Monday night and that’s putting it lightly. In almost every trip to the red zone, something wound up happening and the Saints settled for three points and that wound up helping the Minnesota Vikings (1-0) win 29-19.
The Saints opening drive was a solid 13 play drive before a holding penalty on Andrus Peat pushed them back to the 29 yard line. The Saints settled for a 43-yarder from Wil Lutz. The Vikings tied it up with a lengthy 14-play drive capped off by a 24-yard field goal from Kai Forbath.
Late in the second quarter, the Saints got to the Minnesota five, but still had to settle for a field goal from Lutz to take the lead, albeit briefly. The Vikings wasted little time on the next drive with a three-play drive capped off by an 18-yard pass from Sam Bradford to Stefon Diggs to take a 10-6 lead.
Bradford did it again as the first half wrapped up when he connected with Diggs in the endzone from two yards out to make it 16-6, capping off a 10-play drive.
The Vikings picked up where they left off in the second half with another field goal from Forbath to extend their lead even further. The Saints continued to underperform in the red zone, resulting in Lutz kicking his third field goal of the game.
Minnesota officially put the game out of reach early in the fourth quarter with Bradford finding Kyle Rudolph on a 15-yard pass to make it 26-9.
The Saints will look to bounce back this Sunday when they take on the New England Patriots (0-1) with kickoff set for 12 pm.
-Clint Domingue