Certainly since Payton's departure, and arguably even a year earlier, these are the questions that the Saints organization and ownership should have been seriously asking and urgently need to address after this season:
1. Are we a contending team--that is, are we a top 10 team that has the potential to go deep in the playoffs?
2. If we are not, are we satisfied simply in being at the present time an average team that has a legitimate chance of playing in a playoff game?
3. If we are not a top 10 NFL team and if our aspirations go beyond fielding an average team at this time, do we have in place the four organizational building blocks necessary for sustained long-term success--general manager, top personnel guy, head coach, and quarterback?
I believe that these are the questions that Gayle Benson and those around her should have been asking when Payton stepped down and again after the 2022 season, and will need to answer after this season. As a few of you know, I have been critical of Mickey Loomis and the organization since 2018 over the organization's philosophy towards the draft and building a football team and especially since Payton departed--that is, the direction the team has taken. The answers to the questions above determine the team's direction.
It appears that the organization (certainly after Payton left) concluded (a) our team can legitimately contend; or (b) though our team may not legitimately contend, we are satisfied with having an average team that playing in the NFC South can make a playoff appearance--that is, a team better, even if only marginally so, than the team we have been watching.