Bountygate Saints named top-5 team of century, but Vikings fans know the truth

Are we — and Vikings fans in general — still bitter about Bountygate? Absolutely.

The scandalous 2009 New Orleans Saints defeated Minnesota in the NFC title game and went on to beat Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl — and now they're receiving praise as the fourth-best team in the NFL since the turn of the century. They "earned" the lofty ranking in Sports Illustrated's list of the 25 best teams since 2000.

The 2009 Saints started 13-0 but entered the playoffs on a three-game losing streak. They ripped through the Cardinals 45-14 in the divisional round and beat the Vikings 31-28 in overtime to go to the Super Bowl. However, football fans, both dead and alive, know the Vikings were the better team in that game.

Brett Favre, who threw for 310 yards, is remembered for throwing across his body late in the fourth quarter and being intercepted by Tracy Porter. That killed what would've been a chance for a game-winning field goal and instead led to overtime, where the Saints went on a 12-play drive culminating in Garrett Hartley's 40-yard field goal to send them to the Super Bowl. Minnesota never got the ball in OT.

The Vikings fell largely because they lost three of six fumbles and turned the ball over five times, but the purple crushed the Saints 475-257 in total yards and had a chance to win despite New Orleans' alleged best efforts, which were successful, to injure Favre via the Bountygate scandal.

Saints defensive lineman Bobby McCray was fined $20,000 for two incidents involving unnecessary roughness during the game, according to NFL Network. He blasted Favre after a play in the first quarter and got away with it, and in the third quarter he was involved in a high-low hit to the back of Favre's leg.

Favre suffered a hobbling ankle injury on the third-quarter hit — and his pass on the play was intercepted. Had a penalty been called, it would've wiped out Jonathan Vilma's interception and given the Vikings the ball at the Saints' 19-yard line in a 21-21 tie. Former Vikings head coach Brad Childress later said there were 13 suspicious plays involving Saints defenders targeting Favre.

The NFL later suspended Saints head coach Sean Payton for the entire 2012 season, while defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was suspended indefinitely for allegedly operating a slush fund in which players were paid to knock opposing players out of games. Vilma was suspended for the 2012 season and three other Saints players were levied suspensions.

The Saints won the game, but they cheated. That, apparently, is good enough to be considered the fourth-best team in the National Football League over the past 25 years.

"Look, we had them on the ropes. You take away even half the turnovers we had and the game’s not even close. We were the better team. That’s what hurts the most. We were the better team," former Vikings linebacker Ben Leber told Tyler Dunne of Going Long in 2023.

"They out-executed us. Which is what the name of the game is. Talent-wise, we were the better team. I had buddies tell us afterward — Scott Shanle, Scott Fujita (Saints players) — they told me after the Super Bowl, 'Yeah, you would’ve killed the Colts. That championship game really was our Super Bowl. … The battle we had in the Superdome was our Super Bowl.' The Colts game was an easy game for them. It’s nice and refreshing to hear, but it also hurts. Man, we were that close. We were so close to the magical season paying off. That’s the way football goes."

The Saints can celebrate the on-paper/digital honor given to them by Sports Illustrated, but Vikings Nation knows the truth. The 2009 Minnesota Vikings were elite and were undoubtedly robbed of a shot at the Lombardi Trophy and a place among the best teams of the 21st century.

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