It has been agreed upon for years that, outside of the NFC North, the Minnesota Vikings’ top rival has been the New Orleans Saints. Though the rivalry only became notable in the late 2000s, they had several memorable moments from the late 1980s to the early 2000s.
However, today’s article is not about the Saints-Vikings rivalry. This article is about a rivalry that the Vikings developed with a former Saints head coach, Sean Payton. For the majority of his Saints tenure, Payton was a strong enemy of Vikings fans, and for good reason. After the 2009 NFC Championship Game, Payton and the Vikings stood in each other’s way for so many years to come. In the process, the future Hall of Fame coach became one of the hated figures among Vikings fans.
That rivalry is about to intensify once again in 2023, as Payton has been hired as the new head coach of the Denver Broncos, a team on the Vikings’ road schedule for this upcoming season. Today, we are going to rewind back to some memorable moments about a rivalry that many fans still remember to this day.
Bountygate
The Saints and Vikings met at the Superdome for the 2009 NFC Championship Game. After a late Brett Favre interception sent the game to overtime, the Saints won by virtue of a walk-off field goal early in the extra period. While many Vikings fans were angry about this loss, their anger would soon be justified two years later.
In early 2012, it was revealed that the Saints had been running a bounty program from the 2009 to 2011 seasons, and the Vikings were among the targets of it. Then-Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams put a bounty on Favre during the 2009 NFC Championship, and linebacker Jonathan Vilma personally offered $10,000 cash to anyone who knocked Favre out of the game.
This revelation marked the beginning of Vikings fans’ hatred towards Payton. The veteran coach had apparently known about the bounty system for a while, and failed to do anything about it. Many fans felt as if the team had been cheated out of a Super Bowl appearance, and they were right to an extent. The Saints set out to deliberately injure opposing players in order to get to a title, and that isn’t right. Payton ended up being suspended by the NFL for a year due to his involvement in the scandal, which surely brought joy to Vikings fans.
Minneapolis Miracle
The Saints-Vikings rivalry got heated once again during the 2017 NFC Divisional Round, as two of the NFC’s best squared off at U.S. Bank Stadium.
The Vikings jumped out to a 17-0 halftime lead, but the Saints mustered a comeback and led 24-23 with ten seconds left. Payton then decided that it would be a good idea to troll Vikings fans by mocking the Skol chant. Unfortunately for him, in the words of Joe Buck, this happened next:
Keenum steps into it, pass is caught…DIGGS…SIDELINE…TOUCHDOWN! UNBELIEVABLE! VIKINGS WIN IT!!!!
Just like that, Payton’s troll backfired on him big time. Though he later admitted that it was just “good playoff fun,” that only made him more of a hated figure among the Vikings fanbase.
2019 NFC Wild Card
Two years after the Minneapolis Miracle meeting, the Saints and Vikings squared off in the Superdome for a Wild Card game. When the playoff bracket was announced, many members of the media had already penciled in a Saints-Packers Divisional Round matchup at Lambeau Field, and Saints fans even began compiling stats about how their team performed in cold weather.
Unfortunately, that was all for naught. The Vikings came into town and they played to win. Payton struggled with clock management for most of the game, and Drew Brees committed two turnovers. In the end, the Vikings took a 26-20 overtime win.
Just like the NOLA No-Call a season ago, Payton and Saints fans protested about pass interference, as tight end Kyle Rudolph pushed off a defender while catching the game winning touchdown. However, that didn’t matter in the end, as PI was not called and the Vikings took the win.
Christmas Day 2020
If Payton and the Saints got a measure of revenge for their recent heartbreak against the Vikings, it came on Christmas Day 2020.
Against a Vikings squad that was fighting for their playoff lives, Payton relied on the ground game that night and it paid off big time. Running back Alvin Kamara rushed for 155 yards and a record-tying six rushing touchdowns. Taysom Hill also added a rushing score as the Saints beat the Vikings, 52-33. This win eliminated the Vikings from playoff contention and gave the Saints the NFC South title.
For a team that had been snake-bitten by heartbreak against a certain team, this had to feel like a good measure of revenge for Payton and the Saints.
Payton Blocks Ejiro Evero From Vikings Interview
If there was any further information you needed to know about Sean Payton’s hatred for the Vikings, look no further than the start of his Broncos tenure.
The Vikings requested to interview Broncos defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero for their open DC position, but Payton blocked the request. To add salt in the wound, Payton then proceeded to let Evero out of his contract shortly after blocking the Vikings’ request. Despite Evero agreeing to terms with the Carolina Panthers, Vikings fans ended up happy in the end, as the team ended up with former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores as the new defensive coordinator.
During his Saints tenure, Sean Payton developed a rivalry with Vikings fans. Will that rivalry continue when the Vikings and Broncos square off in Denver this coming season? We shall see.
