Even after that 0-4 start, Saints are still alive

By Chris Cluff  |   Monday, December 17, 2007  |  Comments( 0 )

New Orleans Saints
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Believe it or not, the New Orleans Saints are alive.

While the Chicago Bears were eliminated by surging Minnesota on Monday night, the Saints are poised to pounce if the Vikings trip.

It's not the position many thought the Saints would be in after they shocked everyone by going 10-6 in 2006 and reaching the NFC title game, where they lost to the Bears. But a horribly slow start put the Saints in chase position from Day 1, and they are still trying to catch the stragglers in the playoff picture.

To do it, they will have to win their final two and hope for a little help from that juggernaut in Minnesota or those enigmatic Giants.

The Saints dug themselves a huge hole when they opened the season 0-4 - a stretch in which the defense gave up 129 points and the offense scored just 51 against Indianapolis, Tampa Bay, Tennessee and Carolina. The Saints flip-flopped all of that in the second month of the season, beating Seattle, Atlanta, San Francisco and Jacksonville by a combined score of 122-67. That got them back to .500. But then they lost three of four to really put the pressure on themselves in the final quarter of the season.

With no margin for error, they have rallied to blow out the Falcons and nip the Arizona Cardinals the past two weeks, and now they need to finish with wins against Philadelphia at home and the Bears in Chicago. That would give them a 9-7 record, and they still would need a loss from the streaking Vikings or two from the Giants.

Minnesota (8-6) has won five straight, including a 20-13 victory over Chicago on Monday night, and faces Washington at home and the Broncos in Denver in the final two weeks. Washington still holds out playoff hopes itself and will be trying hard to beat the Vikings this Sunday night. And the Broncos are always tough at home, so it is possible that the Vikings will lose at least one of those.

The Giants (9-5) finish at Buffalo and against New England, and it's not out of the question for them to lose both of those either.

Like New Orleans, Washington also sits at 7-7. But the Saints have the edge based on conference record, where they are 6-4, Washington is 5-5 and Minnesota is 5-5. If the Saints win their final two, they will be 8-4 in the NFC, which would be enough to ace out Washington and Minnesota, assuming the Vikings finished 9-7, too.

"If we pull it out the next two weeks, I think we will have earned our right to be in the big show," quarterback Drew Brees told reporters after the Saints 31-24 win against Arizona on Sunday. "We will have been through what amounted to four elimination games. That may even give us more of an edge than we had last year."

Right now, Brees' team is sitting on the edge of elimination. But at least the Saints are alive.
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About Chris Cluff

Chris Cluff spent 10 years as an editor and sportswriter for The Seattle Times. He was a key figure in the newspaper's coverage of the Seahawks, particularly during their Super Bowl run in 2005. He also has written two books on the Seahawks: "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Heart-Pounding, ...
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