I hope NFL Replay shows the game

I've been snowed under with work the past two weeks, so I missed the Vikings first playoff win in five seasons on Sunday.

So how did it look?

Anyway, we can soak in this victory for a little while, but there are a couple of issues the Vikings will have to resolve positively if they are to beat New Orleans at the Superdome in next week's NFC Championship game and advance to their first Super Bowl since 1976.

1. Can the Vikings front four get enough pressure on Drew Brees?
Brees was sacked 20 times this year. But half of those sacks came in two games. Brees doesn't get sacked very often even though he threw the ball 514 times this year. If he consistently gets time to throw the ball, he could throw for 600 yards against the Vikings secondary.

So whatever Ray Edwards, Jared Allen, Kevin Williams, Pat Williams, Brian Robison and Jimmy Kennedy ate before Sunday's game against Dallas, they probably should order the same meal next week.

2. Don't waste opportunities with penalties.
In a game where both offences figure to score some points, the Vikings can't afford to take those maddening offside and false start penalties that turn 1st-and-10s into 1st-and-15s and third-and-fives into third-and-10s. If even a Viking drive or two is scuttled because of penalties, that might be all it takes to lose this one because I don't know how often the Vikings defence is going to stop Drew Brees and the Saints. It should be entertaining though.

Expect another slow week at the blog here. Work ain't slowing down.