Alvin Kamara rushes for 6 TDs as Saints end Vikings’ slim playoff hopes in 52-33 rout
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There will be plenty of time to parse through the obvious qualifications: the season-ending injuries to Danielle Hunter and Anthony Barr, the pandemic that led nose tackle Michael Pierce to opt out for health reasons and wiped out the Vikings’ offseason chances to work with their 15-player draft class, the calf injury that truncated another All-Pro season from linebacker Eric Kendricks.
But at the end of a week that extinguished the Vikings’ playoff chances, they left the Superdome field with their defense stripped bare.
The Saints’ 52-33 win over the Vikings will be remembered — and rued by Minnesota fans — for its superlatives. Alvin Kamara’s six rushing touchdowns tied a NFL record for the most in a game, as the running back joined Ernie Nevers, who did it in 1929. New Orleans’ 52 points tied the Bears’ output in 1961 for the second-most against the Vikings, and their 267 rushing yards were the most the Vikings had allowed since 1991.
The Vikings’ third consecutive loss dropped them to 6-9 — their first losing record since coach Mike Zimmer’s first season in 2014 — and officially eliminated them from the race for the NFC’s seventh playoff spot. They will finish the season in Detroit on Jan. 3 in a game that will matter only for the statistics.
Coach Mike Zimmer used various forms of the word disappointing in his postgame news conference. “You have to work really hard to give up 52,” he said.
Asked about preseason comments that he had never had a bad defense, he said, “This is a bad defense. Worst one I ever had.”
The Vikings started the day with just one linebacker (Eric Wilson) who’d played more than 100 snaps this season, as the rib injury Todd Davis sustained on Sunday put him on the inactive list with Eric Kendricks. A group that gave up 199 rushing yards to the Bears on Sunday had no answer for the Saints’ ground game from the very start.
New Orleans’ first 13 offensive plays went for 136 yards and two touchdowns — a 40-yard romp from Kamara and a one-yard score from the running back. The Vikings, who did not force a punt after a game-opening three-and-out against the Bears on Sunday, did not force one at all against the Saints. The only New Orleans possessions that didn’t result in points were a pair of interceptions from Drew Brees.
The Vikings kept the game close until early in the third quarter, when Kirk Cousins hit Irv Smith Jr. for the first of their two touchdown connections to pull Minnesota within four after Brees’ second interception bounced off the hands of Emmanuel Sanders and into the hands of Hardy Nickerson Jr. But the Saints wouldn’t be stopped again, as Kamara got his fifth touchdown of the game early in the fourth quarter and Taysom Hill added another rushing touchdown.
“They just mashed us upfront,” Zimmer said.
After the Saints got the ball back and drove to the Vikings’ goal line late in the game, coach Sean Payton put Kamara back in the game to give him a chance to tie the NFL touchdown record. He did so by barreling into the Vikings’ end zone from five yards out, carrying defenders with him as he reached for the goal line.
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Ben Goessling did not travel for this game. This article was written using the television broadcast and video interviews after the game.