Admit it, Vikings fans: You kind of enjoyed the way the Saints lost

Any NFL season that advances far enough that the Vikings are no longer playing while others still are — so basically, every season in almost my entire lifetime, given that I was 2 months old the last time the Vikings played in the Super Bowl — offers fans of the purple a lot of "lesser of two evils" propositions when picking a side to root for in a playoff game.

So many teams have wronged the Vikings over the years that my best friend since age 12 wrote a book about it a decade ago, and it is in urgent need of an update.

Usually, there's a dilemma. In the wild-card round, did you at least passively root for the Seahawks (Blair Walsh game!) or Cowboys (Drew Pearson!) when they met?

That said, there are a few teams in the NFC that it's hard to muster up much hate for if you are a bitter and angry Vikings fan. And the Rams are one of them.

The Vikings are 5-2 all-time against the Rams in the playoffs. Even if you're bitter about how the greatest show on turf knocked the Vikings from the 1999 playoffs with a 49-37 victory, you probably understand that the outcome was justified and earned.

The Saints, though, still hold a villainous place in Vikings' fans hearts for the events of the 2009 season — Bountygate and the brutality unleashed on Brett Favre in the NFC title game, one of the most painful what-if games in purple history.

Rooting interest in Sunday's NFC title game, then, was easy.

Judging from Vikings-based Twitter on Sunday, though, fans were bathing in the luxury of New Orleans' bitter misfortune after the Saints experienced their own haunting what-if moment in an overtime loss in the NFC title game to the Rams.

In this case, it was a blown non-call on a pass interference penalty with the Saints and Rams tied late in regulation. Had officials thrown a flag, New Orleans would have had first-and-goal with the chance to either score a touchdown or milk the clock for a chip-shot field goal with very little time left. Instead, they kicked the go-ahead field goal with plenty of time left for the Rams to equalize — which Los Angeles did, before winning in overtime.

"Listen, it's a hard job for those guys 'cause it's happening fast," Saints coach Sean Payton told reporters after the game. "But I don't know if there was ever a more obvious pass interference call that — here it is, the NFC Championship Game. So, it's a tough one to swallow."

Payton also said his team will "probably never get over it," which is a sentiment Vikings fans know all too well.

The lead headline in the New Orleans Times-Picayune read "Reffing Unbelievable," and the subhead declared "blown no-call robs New Orleans of NFC Championship, sets up tainted Super Bowl."

Similarly, Vikings fans often gloss over Minnesota's bungled opportunities nine years ago — and Favre's awful decision — and head straight for the "we were robbed" chorus.