Turnovers and one very costly penalty cost the Minnesota Vikings the NFC Championship against the New Orleans Saints yesterday.  Brett Favre had the biggest turnover, which basically cost the Vikings the game.  With under a minute to go and just outside field goal range, Favre rolled to his right and committed one of the biggest sins a quarterback can do:  throwing across his body to the opposite side of the field.  The throw floated in the air too long and the Saints’ Tracy Porter easily picked it off to send the game into overtime.  Favre wasn’t the only one to blame down the stretch, as the Vikings had a penalty for too many men in the huddle and it pushed them out of field goal range right before Favre’s costly interception.  The Vikings played very sloppy football and did not take care of the ball.  They had 6 fumbles as a team, losing three of them, and Favre threw two interceptions.  Favre finished with 310 yards, 1 touchdown,  and 2 interceptions on 28/46 passes for a QB rating of 70.0.  Although Favre was not sacked, he was pressured all game and the Saints roughed him up with 6 hard QB hits.  Adrian Peterson had a big game, but he too struggled to hold on to the ball with 2 fumbles.  None were lost though and AP finished with 122 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns on 25 carries.  The Vikings’ offense racked up a ton of yards (475 yards) but they lost the turnover battle 5-1, which cost them the game.

The Vikings defense held the Saints explosive offense to only 257 yards, but all of the turnovers gave the Saints offense some great opportunities.  Also, the Vikings defense could not stop the Saints in the red zone, as they went 3-3 in red zone situations.  Drew Brees was held to 197 yards, but he had 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions on 17/31 passes for a QB rating of 106.5.  The Vikings defense actually played pretty solid, and if it weren’t for all of the Vikings’ turnovers they probably would have won pretty easily.  The Vikings still should have won this game, despite all of the turnovers.  When you have that many turnovers though, things are bound to eventually go the other team’s way.  The Vikings should be disappointed they missed out on a trip to the Super Bowl, but they should be proud of a very strong 2009 season.  Now the big question:  Will Brett Favre finally retire?