EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — The Vikings and Saints will meet up Sunday in the Divisional round of the playoffs at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Minnesota, the No. 2 seed, is coming off a first-round bye after going 13-3 and winning the NFC North.
New Orleans advanced to the second round of the playoffs by scoring a 31-26 win over Carolina on Sunday in the Wild Card round. The Saints went 11-5 and won the NFC South.
The teams met in Week 1 when the Vikings scored a 29-19 home win.
Here's a look at 10 numbers of note headed into the matchup:
2 — Vikings safety Harrison Smith was one of two players who had 70-plus tackles, at least 1 sack and five or more interceptions in 2017. Smith, who shared that achievement with Buffalo's Jordan Poyer, tied his career with five interceptions.
98.3 — Case Keenum set a career high with a quarterback rating of 98.3, which was the seventh-best in the NFL in 2017 and is the fifth-highest in team history. Keenum also set career bests in yards (3,547), touchdown passes (22) and completion percentage (67.6), ranking second in the NFL in the latter category.
12 — Saints quarterback Drew Brees threw for 4,334 yards this season, the 12th time he has eclipsed 4,000 yards in a season in his career. The last Vikings quarterback to throw for 4,000-plus yards was Brett Favre in 2009. Minnesota's defense ranked second in the NFL this season by allowing 192.4 passing yards per game.
25.2 — The Vikings produced the best third-down defense in NFL history — or at least since 1991 when the stat was first tracked by the league. The unit allowed 51 conversions on 202 attempts (25.2 percent). New Orleans ranked 19th offensively with a third-down rate of 37.6 percent.
3,094 — Saints running backs Mark Ingram and Kamara combined for 3,094 total offensive yards this season. The duo became the first pair of running back teammates to each have at least 1,500 yards from scrimmage in a season.
21 —The Vikings have 21 players who are in the playoffs for the first time in their careers. The majority of those players were selected in either the 2016 or 2017 NFL Drafts.
4 — Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen (1,276 yards) and Stefon Diggs (849 yards) ranked fourth in the NFL for most combined receiving yards by teammates with 2,125.
5 — The Vikings finished the 2017 season ranked first with 15.8 points allowed per game. Five the previous 10 defenses to have that distinction went to the Super Bowl, with three wins and two losses.
15 — Minnesota produced 15 total touchdowns of 15-plus yards in 2017. Diggs led the way with five such scores, while Eric Kendricks had a 31-yard interception return for a touchdown. New Orleans has 18 touchdowns of 15-plus yards, including a 27-yard interception return and a 106-yard kickoff return for scores.
7 — This will be the seventh time that the Vikings have played in a Divisional round game since the NFL adopted the current playoff format in 1990. Minnesota has gone 3-3 so far and is 19-28 all-time in the playoffs. Minnesota is 2-1 in its postseason history against the Saints, including wins in the 1987 and 2000 NFL playoffs.
