A week ago, I raised the possibility that the Saints might have to defeat the Bucs a third time in the playoffs. Well, that possibility is here if the Saints beat the Bears today. Since the top seed, Green Bay, plays the lowest seed remaining after round one, the Packers play the #6 Rams, who upset #3 Seattle Saturday. That means the Saints-Bears winner takes on #5 Tampa Bay, which defeated #4 Washington Saturday night as expected.
The Bucs are much improved from the team the Saints beat in Weeks 1 and 9. Brady now has Antonio Brown as his primary receiver, and the offense is much better, as you'd expect as Brady has gotten acclimated to his supporting cast and vice-versa. Furthermore, the Bucs will be bent on revenge for the 38-3 shellacking the Saints handed them on Sunday Night Football. The game would be in the Superdome, although home field advantage is minimal this year because of COVID restrictions.
I'm not overlooking the Bears. Remember that the Saints had to go to overtime to beat them in Chicago in Week 8. We were without Michael Thomas in that game and today's game is at home. So the Saints should win, but it won't be easy.