New Orleans Saints

New Orleans Saints: Heartbreak, disappointment, and misery

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

The question is, who are these guys in Black and Gold from week to week? This 2016 Saints team is simply a complete combination of ups and downs. Who Dat Nation deserves to hear the truth that this team is not close.

The Saints lost to the Detroit Lions by a score of 28-13 on a rainy cloudy Sunday afternoon. The weather seemed to reflect the mood after the game. After another failed attempt to reach the .500 mark, the Saints are all but done. The Atlanta Falcons lost, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won which put the two tied for first in the NFC South. Carolina is playing the Seattle Seahawks tonight.

The usual electric Mercedes Benz Superdome was unusually subdued as the Detroit Lions never let the Saints really get into the game. The fact is that this team never did seem like a complete unit functioning on the same page all year. Each week there seems to be something different that brings down the Saints. The defense has been widely criticized for most of the season, but now it’s the offense. The week before maybe it was the special teams. A few weeks before that, the scapegoat was kicker Wil Lutz.

Bad teams tend to talk about fixing things each week to find out that there are more imperfections than originally have thought. If someone were to replay any of Sean Payton’s post game press conferences when the Saints lose, there is no doubt a definitive pattern of confusion and a sense of moving forward. However, there doesn’t seem to be any concrete explanations of how to make things right on a consistent basis.

Unfortunately, the Saints are once again looking at 7-9 squarely in the face. Just the thought of that has to make Who Dat Nation sick. Another offseason and once again another “wait until next year.” This motto is not sitting well after a third year of woeful underachievement.

Yes, there are some people out there who honestly think the Saints can still make the playoffs like Bobby Hebert. Usually Hebert is pretty honest of the summation of this team. Perhaps the combination of close losses and heartbreaking performaces has him befuddled as well. Regardless, the time of acceptance has to come soon. The Saints are barely clinging to playoff hopes only if they run the table. That’s a fairy tale.