Brees And The Saints Do Enough To Advance, Top Bears 21-9 To Set Up Matchup Against Buccaneers

The New Orleans Saints home wild card win Sunday over the Chicago Bears will be more remembered for one of the networks it was on than the game itself.

The network was Nickelodeon, and while that didn't matter to the Saints or Bears, it was New Orleans who on the field was dominant, topping the overmatched Bears 21-9 to move on in the NFC postseason.

The win means that Drew Brees and the Saints will host an old friend in Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next weekend in the NFC Divisional Playoffs.

Brees was very good against a solid Bears defense, going 28-for-39 for 265 yards and a pair of scores.

Chicago had just 239 yards of offense, and in what could be his last game in Chicago, Mitch Trubsiky went was 19-for-29 for 199 yards and a score, and lot of that came in the last two minutes when the game was in hand.

New Orleans' defense was the dominating force, holding the Bears to just over 21 minutes in time of possession while the Saints racked up 38:58.

The Bears went just 1-for-10 on third downs, while the Saints as a team went 11-for-17.

Returning Saints wide out Michael Thomas caught an 11-yard score with 5:09 to play in the first quarter to open the scoring, and Chicago countered with a field goal to cut it to 7-3 at half.

The Saints put the game away in the third with a Latavius Murray six-yard touchdown catch, and an
Alvin Kamara three-yard touchdown run with 8:50 left to go up 21-9.

New Orleans as the number two seed in the NFC get the home field for next week against the Bucs, a team they beat earlier in the year 34-23 in the season opener at home, and 38-3 in Tampa in week nine.

Now Brady gets one last chance in a battle of future Hall of Fame quarterbacks for the right to go to the NFC Title game.