The final game of the Divisional Round pits the Saints against the Vikings in a Week 1 rematch.

The Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints wrap up the Divisional Round when they face off in Minneapolis for a spot in the NFC Championship. The game kicks off Sunday at 4:30 p.m. ET on FOX (live streams at Fox Sports Go, Yahoo! Sports, and FuboTV).

This game is technically a rematch of their Week 1 opener, where the Vikings pounded the Saints in a 29-19 win that wasn’t as close as the final score. Both teams are also vastly different from where they are today — that was Sam Bradford’s only complete game before his season got derailed by a knee injury, while the Saints quickly realized that Adrian Peterson wasn’t a good fit in their offense.

Now Minnesota has Case Keenum running the show, and he’s enjoyed a career year after toiling in journeyman status for several years. Their running suffered when Dalvin Cook tore his ACL, but Latavius Murray and Jerick McKinnon have done just fine as a committee. One thing that hasn’t changed since Week 1 was the defense, which finished the year ranked No. 1 in yards and points allowed.

New Orleans eventually shipped out Peterson and committed to Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara as the featured the backs. The result was a rejuvenated offense, with Kamara emerging as an Offensive Rookie of the Year candidate. Drew Brees wasn’t quite as prolific in years past, but the running game clicking meant he didn’t have to carry the offense as in previous years.

That said, the Saints can still count on Brees, and he delivered in last week’s Wild Card Round, throwing for 376 yards in a 31-26 win over the Carolina Panthers. They’ll likely need him again as the Saints try for a second time to solve this Vikings defense.

Pregame reading

• So what went wrong for the Saints in that Week 1 loss? Canal Street Chronicles breaks it down.

How much stock should you buy into what went down in week one? The Minnesota Vikings easily handled the New Orleans Saints, controlling the pace of the game and lining up one explosive play after another. But that was three months ago, and things have significantly changed since.

The Vikings have since lost their leading passer (Sam Bradford) and leading rusher (Dalvin Cook), but the Saints have lost a lot more. Four of New Orleans’ top nine defenders in snaps played (A.J. Klein, Kenny Vaccaro, Alex Okafor, and Alex Anzalone) have since been placed on injured reserve. Tenth-ranked De’Vante Harris was demoted to the practice squad, though he still manages to cameo in group celebration pics during games. Across the field, all eleven Vikings starters from the season-opener will be suiting up again this Sunday.

• Michael Thomas was a big reason for the Saints beating the Panthers last week.

Thomas obliterated the Panthers secondary for the third time this season, catching 8 passes for 131 yards in this playoff showdown, and has now averaged six receptions for 87 yards in five career games against the Panthers. On a day where his star teammates Ingram and Kamara were contained, Thomas proved that Carolina still had no answer for his talents. He made a number of acrobatic catches in key moments, diving for a 14-yd. reception to the Panthers goal line at the end of the first half for one touchdown, and snagging a back-breaking 46-yd. reception late in the 4th quarter to set up the Saints final touchdown.

• Daily Norseman goes position by position in its preview of the game.

The Vikings have the ability to match-up with the Saints’ receivers in press-man, off-man, and/or zone coverage, and likely will have Xavier Rhodes shadow Michael Thomas during the course of the game. He held him to 45 receiving yards week one, and given Rhodes’ shut-down of pretty much every big-time receiver he’s faced this year, I doubt Thomas will have a big game on Sunday. That creates fewer opportunities for Drew Brees compared to the zone coverage Carolina played most often in the wild card game, and may force him to hold the ball longer than he’d like, leading to pressures.