Tuesday, October 07, 2008John DeShazierThe Vikings didn’t find a way to win so much as the Saints created a way to lose.

Minnesota didn’t go on the road and convincingly take a victory in a nationally televised, Monday Night Football square off so much as New Orleans handed over a game the way you’d expect a winless or one-loss team to conjure failure where there otherwise wouldn’t have been.

Two lost fumbles, one interception, a blocked field-goal attempt returned for a touchdown and eight penalties accumulated, with one declined — in the first half.

And a missed 46-yard field goal attempt with 1:59 left by kicker Martin Gramatica, countered by a successful 30-yard attempt by Minnesota’s Ray Longwell with 13 seconds remaining. Those aren’t charming numbers and the Saints weren’t a charming team for America in a 30-27 loss that dropped them to 2-3 and gave them another gut-wrenching loss in a season that already has had three too many of them.

“There were a number of things that you can say we set out to do,” Saints coach Sean Payton said. “And yet, if you fumble the ball and you have all the drops and you have all the penalties, those will do you in.”

Self-inflicted wounds, is what they’re called. The Saints beat up themselves when the Vikings couldn’t, putting a bruised and ugly face on what could have been a thing of beauty.

Oh, there was a stab made at being cute. An onsides kick attempt in the first quarter, following a 35-yard field goal by Gramatica that gave the Saints a 10-7 lead with 2:58 left, had “dimples” and “adorable” stamped all over it.

Except the Vikings (2-3) recovered, at the Saints’ 40-yard line.

And as pathetic as Minnesota’s offense had been and continued to be in the first half, it managed to eke out four yards in three plays. From there, Longwell kicked a 53-yard field goal to tie the game at 10-10. Pair that with the 46-yard field goal attempt that Gramatica had blocked by defensive tackle Kevin Williams, picked out of the air by cornerback Antoine Winfield and returned for a touchdown to pull the Vikings into a 7-7 tie with 6:20 left in the first — when Minnesota looked so helpless it could’ve been standing under an overpass, holding a sign pandering for touchdowns — and the Saints had gift-wrapped 10 points so sloppy that the Vikings barely needed to bother with the wrapper because the box was wide open.

But what will give the Saints the most cause to feel sickened today should be a historical case of waste. What should give them reason to kick themselves until their feet ache is the fact that they had the lead, the emotion and the momentum and didn’t do a thing with all that in their favor.

As shockingly and suddenly as the Saints had sabotaged themselves, it appeared to steal back the game like thieves in the Monday night. The ringleader was easily identifiable, unashamed of his five-fingered, two-legged discount job, brazenly committing the act in front of 70,015 witnesses inside the Superdome.

Reggie Bush appeared to have saved New Orleans’ bacon on a night the Saints looked cooked. Bush mesmerized and electrified, showing the nation his multidimensional best by undressing the Minnesota Vikings on special teams when the Vikings bottled him everywhere else.

Bush returned two punts for touchdowns within a five-minute, 10-second stretch in the second half to give the listless Saints life. His 71-yarder pulled the Saints to within 20-17 and his 64-yarder broke a 20-20 tie and gave the Saints a seven-point lead with 11:36 left. The two returns for a touchdown tied a league record and were a Saints single-game record, as were Bush’s 176 punt return yards. Now he has four punt returns for touchdowns in his career, also a team record. But it all unraveled so quickly, it was dizzying. After Bush’s second score, Minnesota answered with a seven-play, 75-yard drive that ended in a 33-yard touchdown pass from Gus Frerotte to Bernard Berrian. Then Gramatica missed his second potential game-winning kick in three weeks — he went wide right in a 34-32 loss to Denver, and wide left Monday night.

That opened a crack for Minnesota and the Vikings, aided by a 42-yard pass interference penalty by safety Kevin Kaesviharn against Berrian, needed little time to move into position to win.

Well, not “win” so much as take what was offered. That’s all they had to do Monday night, because it’s all the Saints demanded of them.

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