Jo-Lonn Dunbar's "De-Cleater" paves the way for a Reggie Bush punt return touchdown against the Vikings on MNF! @SaintsNews #Saints pic.twitter.com/FmcQ6cgHJ4
— Kyle T. Mosley (@ktmoze) June 7, 2024
It’s often been said that Reggie Bush joined the New Orleans Saints a generation too early. The college football superstar had an inconsistent pro career in black and gold, experiencing terrific highs and frustrating lows as Sean Payton’s coaching staff struggled to figure out how to use him. The role Bush pioneered in New Orleans was later developed by Darren Sproles and perfected by Alvin Kamara, and it’s fair to wonder how things might have gone had he enjoyed the benefits of a more experienced play caller.
But he was always dangerous on special teams. Bush scored four punt return yards in regular season games and a fifth in the playoffs. And when the Minnesota Vikings visited the Saints for a “Monday Night Football” matchup in 2008, Bush turned in his best performance yet with a 71-yard punt return touchdown.
Bush turned on the jets to rally back after the Vikings took an early 20-10 lead, which you can watch here on YouTube. It was the longest punt return of Bush’s NFL career. And while it was just the first of two punts returned for touchdowns he had against the Vikings that night, he nearly had a third, having gotten a favorable angle on the Minnesota coverage team before his cleats caught in the Superdome turf, tripping him up.
The Vikings ended up winning this one after a rough end-of-game sequence (Saints kicker Matt Gramatica missed a 46-yard field goal for the win, and a 42-yard pass interference penalty on safety Kevin Kaesviharn flipped the field to set up a chip-shot kick for Minnesota) but New Orleans got the last laugh. They hosted the next year’s NFC championship game and beat the Vikings in overtime to advance to Super Bowl XLIV. You know what happened next.
