Maybe it’s easier to avoid holding grudges when you’ve got a Super Bowl to your name. Or maybe the New Orleans Saints are full of it when they claim they’re not seeking revenge when they visit the Vikings this coming Sunday night.
Saints fans likely have a major grudge against the Vikings after Case Keenum and Stefon Diggs starred in the “Minneapolis Miracle” last January – a 64-yard game-winning touchdown as time expired to push the Vikings to the NFC title game and send the Saints home for the season.
For Vikings fans, and undoubtedly some members of the Vikings organization, it was a form of payback from “Bountygate,” the infamous 2009-10 NFC title game in which the Saints were charged with paying players to take out quarterback Brett Favre.
It’s that painful history that led the Saints to a Super Bowl, perhaps the only anecdote to help grudge-filled fans of the purple and gold.
“It wasn’t like there was bad blood when the game was over or anything like that,” said Saints head coach Sean Payton, referring to the way last year’s playoff game ended, according to Nola.com.
“Two teams fought hard and made a play at the end that ended up costing us the game, but there were a lot of things that cost us the game, and so I think the focus will be on this year’s Vikings and this year’s Saints team rather than the fact that we just finished playing them last year.”
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Saints star running back Alvin Kamara holds a grudge based on his preseason interview with Bleacher Report in which he said, “”So, yeah, f— Minnesota.”
“I couldn’t even be mad. I was mad, of course, but it was like how does that even f—— happen? That’s not even real. It’s almost not realistic, like what the f—?” Kamara said.
Vikings fans will probably always hate the Saints for the 2009 cheap shots on Favre. Not even Diggs’ miracle touchdown is enough to change those feelings. If anything, it juiced up the Sunday night showdown even more.
The Saints lead the NFC South at 5-1 and the 4-2-1 Vikings sit atop the NFC North.
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