The tortured recent history of the New Orleans Saints

When NFL fans think of tortured franchises, the same few names and stories come to mind. The Cleveland Browns and the Detroit Lions have a combined zero Super Bowl appearances. Jim Kelly and the Buffalo Bills lost four straight Super Bowls in the 1990s. And the Jacksonville Jaguars have only one winning season since 2007. 

However, when looking at the last ten seasons alone, a somewhat surprising contender emerges as a contender for most tortured franchise: the New Orleans Saints. 

High Expectations

In 2009, legendary quarterback Drew Brees was only 30 years old. Coach Sean Payton was in his fourth season. The Saints had seven pro-bowlers, won 13 games, and finished the season as champions. The Saints’ dominance in the NFC seemed inevitable. 

Not many people would have predicted that New Orleans would never even make the Super Bowl again. It took incredible but historically overlooked circumstances to deny the Saints a chance at a second championship. Year after year, the Saints seemed to run into the worst possible luck. 

Post-Super Bowl Let Downs

In 2010, the Saints had another impressive season. They won eleven games and had seven pro-bowels again. However, their fiercest division rivals, the Atlanta Falcons, had a slightly better record. 

Because of the division rules, the Falcons and the Saints could not both hold home games to start their playoff runs. New Orleans had to go on the road to face the much less talented Seattle Seahawks. 

This was an unfortunate draw. Even though the 2010 Seahawks had the worst record (7-9) to ever earn a playoff berth, Seattle’s field was designed to loudly echo the fans’ cheers, creating a deafening effect. 

By the third quarter, quarterback Matt Hasselbeck had miraculously led the Seahawks to an eleven point advantage. Everything was shaping for a vintage fourth quarter comeback for Drew Brees and the Saints. 

The Saints marched right back in the game. The scored an easy touchdown and then a field goal to cut the Seahawks’ lead to four.

The Saints were a stop away from regaining the lead, when young running back Marshawn Lynch made his first major mark in his storied NFL career. On the second play of this late fourth quarter drive, Lynch broke away from eight defensemen trying to tackling him down. 

The stunning 67 yard touchdown run iced the game and sealed the fate of this great Saints team. The lead was too great for the Saints to overcome. 

2011

In 2011, the Saints were serious contenders to win the Super Bowl for the third consecutive season. New Orleans won thirteen games, but still drew the third seed. After a rout of the Lions, the Saints had to visit the San Francisco 49ers. 

This titanic match-up between the 49ers and the Saints has been lost in the shuffle of NFL history. These 13-3 juggernauts played defensively-oriented games until both offenses broke free at the end of the fourth quarter. 

In the last four minutes, the lead changed four times. Ultimately, San Francisco had the last laugh. With ten seconds to go in the game, quarterback Alex Smith threw a wobbly ball towards the very front of the endzone. 

Despite very tight coverage, six foot three tight end Vernon Davis caught the ball and fell over the goal line to win it. Once again, the Saints had lost a very close playoff game in a season where they were expected to get past the Divisional Round. 

The fall and the resurgence

Due to Bountygate, the loss of key players such as Reggie Bush and Jonathan Vilma, and poor drafting, New Orleans did not reach the heights of their 2009-2011 run until 2017. Brees and Payton spent five years in the NFL wilderness. 

Then, in 2017, the Saints drafted a fantastic rookie class. Marshon Lattimore, Ryan Ramcyzk, Marcus Williams, Alvin Kamara, and Trey Hendrickson all played significant minutes in their first yards. The new look Saints won eleven games and cruised to the divisional round again. This time, their opponents were the Minnesota Vikings. 

When Drew Brees got the Saints within field goal range with thirty seconds to go, New Orleans’ second trip to the Conference Championship seemed guaranteed. However, their inexperience reared its ugly head at the worst possible moment.

With ten seconds left in the game, a miracle happened. Minnesota’s quarterback Case Keenum threw a mid-range ball to wide receiver Stephon Diggs. Keenum was looking to get the Vikings in field goal range, but Diggs had different ideas. 

Diggs saw an open lane to the endzone. Only one defender, rookie safety Marcus Williams, was in his way. Williams missed the tackle and Diggs scored one of the most iconic touchdowns in NFL history. Somehow, they had been beaten by a touchdown more devastating than Vernon Davis’s. The Saints’ hopes were dashed and they had to start over again.

2018

New Orleans did rebound. The 2018 Saints got the one seed for the first time since their 2009 Super Bowl season. The entire Saints offensive line made the pro bowl. They easily beat the sixth seeded Eagles in the divisional round. Brees and Payton finally reached the Conference Round again. 

The Saints built a commanding 13-0 in the first quarter. The Saints got a vital third down stop in the second quarter. A 20-0 lead was in reach. Then, Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay called a risky fake punt to keep his team in the game. The fake punt worked and the Rams played the Saints close from then on. 

Down by three, Drew Brees and the Saints were driving with less than two minutes in the fourth quarter. On third down at the ten yard line, Brees threw a dime right to wide receiver Tommylee Lewis. Before Lewis could catch it, he was hit across his body by Nickell Robey-Coleman. 

Lewis had no chance to catch the ball – a clear violation of the pass interference rules. Yet, there was no whistle from the referee. New Orleans had to settle for a field goal to tie the game. Los Angeles went on to win in overtime. 

Where the Saints are now

The Brees-Payton Saints era never returned to round three of the playoffs after that. In 2019, the Saints were upset by the Minnesota Vikings again. For the second year in a row, they lost a very close overtime game. 

In 2020, the Saints were leading against the eventual champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers until tight end Jared Cook fumbled the ball in the third quarter. Tampa Bay took advantage of the short field and never gave up the lead after that. The game against Tampa Bay was Drew Brees’s final game before he retired.

Now, for the first time since 2006, neither Drew Brees nor Sean Payton will be in the Superdome this fall. The Brees-Payton definitively ended without a second title. 

There are question marks for 2022. Uncertainty about the quarterback position is an issue, while Alvin Kamara’s possible suspension is still on the cards.

Still, the Saints haven’t faded into irrelevance quite yet. The NFC South is set to be the weakest division in football. Skilled quarterback Jameis Winston will be returning from his ACL injury. 

New Orleans could make the playoffs again. The question is: if they make the playoffs, will they buck from the trend of absolutely devastating playoff loses.