It is a play that will haunt the New Orleans Saints and their fans for a long time. They needed one stop against the Minnesota Vikings. They needed to tackle a defenseless wide receiver in bounds. Do that, and they would be headed to the N.F.C. Championship. But caught up in the moment, a rookie missed a tackle, and it cost his team everything. Here is what went wrong:
The Setup
It was 3rd-and-10 at Minnesota’s 39-yard line. There were 10 seconds remaining, the Vikings had no timeouts, and New Orleans was clinging to a one-point lead.