Are you kidding?! Allen spelled it out in the play by play. Dive for five and try the field goal, Vikings win.
There’s a gulf between “try the field goal” and “Vikings win” which you don’t properly acknowledge. They were out of field goal range, like I said. Which doesn’t mean they couldn’t kick and pray, but it would’ve been low percentage.
Let me ask, if kicking was such a viable alternative why didn’t they do it right away, instead of giving Favre a chance to turn it over? Because they needed more yards, that’s why. Because kicking wasn’t a viable alternative. Say whatever you want about “dive for five,” but like I said, he was wide open to rush for first down and couldn’t because the Saints pass rush had hobbled his ankle. I can see him falling down, but not diving five yards. Five yards, by the way, which still wouldn’t have put them in comfortable range.
The game didn’t end right then, anyway. They could’ve won the toss or stopped the Saints in OT. That’s not Favre’s fault. If you wanna backtracked to how the game was lost, why stop at the interception? The Vikings could’ve put the game away if it weren’t for the 5 or whatever it was fumbles, only one of which I can recall Favre being involved with. That wouldn’t be the answer, though, because they were in a position to win despite them. What decided the game, really, was the penalty following the Chet Taylor run in the last drive of regulation. If not for it, they probably would’ve kicked their way to the Superbowl.