There is an alarming number of Saints fans that have no idea that the 49ers were once our most heated rivalry, from a competitive standpoint.
Atlanta certainly was our regional rival and the fans have fun with hating on each other, but when it came to the actual standings and on the field hatred, the rivalry with “Frisco” was the one.
The realignment of the divisions in 2002 was the last league-wide decision that made sense. That was still in Tags’ time as commish and the league hadn’t become a serious question mark in terms of integrity yet.
It made zero sense to call our old division the NFC “West” when two of its four teams weren’t anywhere near the West. Granted, the previous divisional setup was a result of the political-style dealmaking that had to happen in the late ‘60s to make the AFL-NFL merger work in the first place.