Week 10 Schedule Breakdown: Minnesota Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints have formed a mini rivalry over the past few seasons. Ever since the Minneapolis Miracle, the Vikings and Saints have played four times, splitting the series 2-2. In week ten, the teams will match up again in Minnesota for the first time since 2018.

The last time the two teams met was October of last season in London where the Saints were the “home” team. The Saints were inches away from sending the game to overtime, but Wil Lutz’s 61-yard game-tying FG attempt was just short after bouncing off the crossbar. The Saints will look to get revenge in Minnesota in week ten.

Outside of potentially losing Dalvin Cook, the Vikings' offense will look pretty similar to last year. Kirk Cousins will still be under center, and Justin Jefferson will build on his OPOY performance from last season. TJ Hockenson is returning after being traded last season, and they added one of the top receivers in the 2023 class in Jordan Addison to replace Adam Theilen. Their passing offense will put the Saints' secondary to the test, but if Lattimore, Taylor, and Adebo are healthy, it’ll be a fun matchup to watch.

The Vikings' run game is looking suspect. If Cook gets cut or traded (which seems pretty likely), their RB1 will be Alexander Mattison. Mattison has been a serviceable backup when Cook has been injured, but I don’t think he can handle the volume of carries that comes with being an RB1.

On the defensive side of the ball, Minnesota also stayed relatively unchanged. They traded away Za’Darius Smith to the Browns and lost Patrick Peterson and Erik Kendricks in free agency. The big storyline to watch in this game will be Marcus Davenport. The former Saints defensive end never found his footing in New Orleans, but we’ll see if a change of scenery can help the former first-round pick.

This matchup will be the final game before the Saints' bye week in week 11. They’ll be coming off a home game against Chicago and hopefully can ride some momentum into this game. For the Vikings, they’re coming off back-to-back road games against the Packers and Falcons.

Three of the last five times these teams have matched up, it’s come down to a one-score game. The Saints and Vikings have traded wins since the Minneapolis Miracle, so if that trend holds, the Saints could walk out with a win. Expect this to be a close game, but as long as the Saints are healthy heading into this game, I think they have a good chance of pulling this one out on the road.

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