NEW ORLEANS — The Saints will host the Minnesota Vikings in the wild card round of the NFL playoffs next weekend.
The game will be played Sunday, January 5 at 12:05 p.m. A victory in that one would send the Saints to Green Bay for a 5:40 p.m. game on Sunday, January 12.
The Saints seeding was sealed when the San Francisco 49ers held on to beat Seattle 26-21 in a game Sunday night.
The Saints will go in as the 3rd seed in the NFC, meaning they will play host in the wild card round, but will travel to any game that pits them against the 1st or 2nd seeds. So if they get past the Vikings, they will travel to Green Bay, and possibly San Francisco.
Top seed San Francisco will receive a bye, as will second-seeded Green Bay. The 49ers would play host to the lowest remaining seed in the division playoffs the weekend of January 11-12. Green Bay would host the highest remaining seed.
The other wild card game in the NFC will see Seattle travel to Philadelphia to face the Eagles.
The seeding is as follows:
1- San Francisco
2- Green Bay
3- New Orleans
4- Philadelphia
5- Seattle
6- Minnesota
The Saints finished the season with the same 13-3 record as both the 49ers and Packers, but San Francisco beat them head-to-head and both the 49ers and Packers have a better conference record.
The Vikings game will be a rematch of the Minnesota Miracle from two years ago when the Saints were beaten on the game’s final play on a pass to Stefon Diggs where safety Marcus Williams whiffed on a tackle.