The Vikings and the Saints certainly entertained fans in the stand and in the couches for close to three and a half hours of Monday Night Football.  And when all the action stopped and the clock finally showed 00:00, the Vikings came out a 30-27 road winner.

It wasn’t a smooth win for the Vikings.  The Saints had their home field advantage with  a raucous Louisiana Superdome crowd.  The absense of E. J. Henderson who is one of my favorite defensive player hurts the team.  The Saints made the first touchdown of the game.  But the Vikings didn’t give up so easily and they manage to overcome all the negative energy.  Even the impressive Saints passing game with the hot hands of Brees and the riveting performance of Mr. Bush did not stop the Vikings from notching their second victory of the season and their first road win of the 2008 campaign.

The Saints were so occupied with Adrian Peterson that they gave opportunities for other players to shine.

• Ryan Longwell scored often against the Saints. He was true on each of his PATs and also on three field goals, including a 53-yarder late in the first quarter and the game-winner from 30 yards out with just 13 seconds to play. That 30-yarder was his 13^th career game-winner.
• Finally, Bernard Berrian had his breakout game as a Viking. He was a factor on Monday night, often finding himself the target of a Frerotte fastball. And even when he wasn’t the target – like on his 33-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown that tied the game at seven and stopped the Saints seemingly unstoppable momentum – he came up big. Berrian hauled in six grabs for 110 yards (a career high) and one touchdown. Congratulations Bernard – here’s to many more games just like the one you had against the Saints.
• Antoine Winfield dang near single-handedly had the Vikings out in front 20-10 at halftime. As the teams headed to the locker room at the intermission, this is what #26 had already accomplished: five tackles, three tackles for a loss, one sack, one pass defensed, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and a touchdown on a blocked field goal. And that was just the first half! Winfield finished with eight tackles, five tackles for a loss and several highlight-caliber plays.

Monday night’s win was a great one for the Vikings. Despite losing almost every major statistical category, they came out on top in a tough place to play. Instead of being on the wrong side of the turnover battle, they were on the right side of it. And they were on the right side of the outcome.

The Vikings now move to 2-3 – instead of dropping to 1-4 – and they will host the Detroit Lions next week before traveling to Chicago for a tilt with the Bears in Week 7. Then, they have a bye in Week 8 and will come out of the bye with a home game against the Houston Texans.