Saints "What If Wednesday": What if there was no Minneapolis Miracle?

This week's "what-if" scenario for the New Orleans Saints looks at what could have been if one of the most painful moments in Saints history never happened.

The Minneapolis Miracle. As far as fans of the New Orleans Saints are concerned, there really isn't any more that needs to be said other than that. Now that that revisiting of actual history is out of the way, let's dive right in and see how things would be different for the Saints, if they get out of Minnesota with a win in the 2017 NFC Championship.

As far as the remainder of the 2017 season goes, we have to be honest with ourselves. It's hard to believe that anyone was going into Lincoln Financial Field and beating the Philadelphia Eagles in Philly to go to Super Bowl LIl, especially considering the Minnesota Vikings led by Case Keenum, who hung around with the Saints and won on a miracle, got absolutely run off the field the next week. Taking Sean Payton's success against Doug Pederson into account, the Eagles still get to Super Bowl LIl, but it's a much closer game. Nick Foles and company also get to the big game with far less momentum, which has the result of that game looking much more dicey.

2018 and beyond though? MUCH different...