New Orleans might have won the game more easily if not for two missed field goals by Garrett Hartley, who kicked the dramatic winning field goal last year.

Still, New Orleans was able to kneel on the ball to run out most of the last two minutes after Pierre Thomas capped a 71-yard, one-touchdown performance with 10-yard, first-down run right after the 2-minute warning.

Adrian Peterson, who rushed for 122 yards and three TDs in the last meeting, rushed for 87 yards on 219 carries against New Orleans' stingy defense.

``We did a very good job of holding against the run and still taking some of the downfield throws away,'' Payton said.

Although the game was competitive until the final minutes, it hardly lived up to its hype.

Favre's comeback from ankle surgery, marking the start of his 20th season, was largely unspectacular. Despite being sacked only once and hit not nearly as often, or as hard, as in the NFC title game, he looked out of synch or inaccurate at times. The fact that Minnesota was without star receiver Sidney Rice may have had something to do with that.

``There's three of four throws that I just missed,'' Favre said. ``I have no excuse. I just missed.''

Favre's best sequence came on Minnesota's only touchdown drive late in the first half, when he found Vinsanthe Shiancoe on precision down-the-middle completions of 33 and 20 yards, the second for the Vikings' only TD.

That gave Minnesota a 9-7 halftime lead, which the Saints erased on their first drive of the second half.

``We were right where we wanted to be at halftime, then it was three-and-out, three-and-out,'' Vikings coach Brad Childress said. ``There were not a lot of throws to be made downfield. They were going to hold us down and make us bleed slowly.''

The Saints' triumph ended a long day of festivities which for some might have been more exciting than the game itself.