I will be honest, I haven't felt this unsure about this team's trajectory in over 20 years......... (1 Viewer)

[MarylandWHODAT]

Other than the Katrina year, ( threat of moving to San Antonio) , it has been about 20 years when I just didn't have positive vibes for the Saints going into the next season.

During the 80's and 90's growing up in North Louisiana, I was almost always positive about the Saints. The excuses I had each year seem to be same ( " Hey maybe not this year, but the Saints have this player and a high draft pick, things will turn around).

Despite all the loses and the annoying taunts from the fans of that East Texas team down 1-20, I wear my Saints colors proudly and I was the cheerleader for my group of friends.

I would say " We got Bobby, we got Jim Everett, oh wow we drafted Danny Wuerffel, we are going to the Superbowl !!!"

However, after this past season and seeing what has transpired the last several days. I just don't have any encouragement in me.

I an not dropping them or anything like that. I will still be rooting for them and paying attention to everything Saints related.

Maybe it's my age or the BS with Roger Goodell and the officials the last few years, but I am just apathetic right now !

Some of you older guys , that experienced the lean years of the Saints, are you feeling the same way ?? If anybody has any positive news , please share them. I think some of us could use it.

Absolutely. You summed it up perfectly. When the Saints were bad and really bad, they had nowhere to go but up. I was in that number in the 80’s and 90’s. Yelling and cheering, damning and hoping. We had no idea what winning was like. And when Brees and Payton came along, the Saints were THE team to beat. The team was awesome. Super Bowl win. Consistent playoff appearances and more than anything, there was always a chance with them. They were “up”. Unfortunately, what goes up, must come down. And the Saints, well, are coming back down……..with lightning speed to an inevitable thunderous crash.

There have been numerous posts about “the old days” and about fans who have only been around for the last 15 years have no idea about how bad it was. Look, just because us old fans went through Saints hell doesn’t mean we want to experience another 40+ years of losing. And of course the prevailing “you’re not a fan” posts if you dare say they will never reach those heights again. So, I too, am tempering my expectations for probably the next 10 years. We will never see another team like the Brees led Saints.

Yes, age has lot to do with it, Roger Goodell and the unbridled greed the NFL has shown, the absolute horrendous officiating and the sky high player contracts have left me………disappointed. Apathetic is a good word. I will always root for the Saints, take a trip to go to a game, pay attention to the podcasts, news, posts, etc., but this is the first time in a long time, I am considering not getting the NFL Prime Ticket. We know the Saints are going to be bad this year so why ruin my Sundays? It’s not that I don’t care it’s just that I don’t care as much.

I too, am desperately looking for a glimmer of positivity however, it’s not looking good. I think we all need it……..

 

[SaintRob]

The bar is super low. I feel like the ceiling is 6 wins despite the "easy" schedule. This feels like the Ditka years.

You know what game I'm looking forward to? Usually it's game 1 of the next season. I'll be there, of course to see what happens.

But right now, the game I'm most looking forward to, is Saints vs. Broncos in the Dome in 2024.

 

[longtime lurker]

SP raised the bar to a level that will be difficult if not impossible for the current head coach to maintain….and that’s my worry. I don’t think DA has anywhere near the ability to command the confidence of his players or the fans.

The end of the Mora regime would be the closest to a comparable situation IMHO, but he was burned out and the fans were too by his end in New Orleans….and besides a few years of success with Haz, that was a long walk in the desert between Mora and SP.

Here’s to ML striking gold again with his next hire after DA and the next head coach building a quality team. SP spoiled me as a fan, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. We should demand excellence.

 

[reason2believe]

Yep. There is no way to avoid that feeling. Of course we are all fans and have been fans for our whole lives. We are not "giving up" or "bailing on our team". But for all of the reasons shared here, it is a tough time but I think we expected it or should have. It's the ups and downs of a franchise, and SP and Brees kept us on the up side for a long time. And unfortunately the franchise did not have a good long-term succession plan. We are in a new hole that we have to dig out of. No one knows if that will be a long or short road, but we will always be hopefull to return to the ups.

 

[SigFreudianSlip]

I get it. Since 80 here.
I’m just along for the ride and thankful for the amazing Sean & Drew years. I don’t expect to ever see that type of success again and I’m ok with that. I truly never thought I’d live to see us win the Lombardi so it’s all gravy for me.

 

[HouseCall]

Some of you older guys , that experienced the lean years of the Saints, are you feeling the same way ?? If anybody has any positive news , please share them. I think some of us could use it.

Saints fab since 1982 - diehard since 1987. I’ll take a stab at answering this.

No. I don’t feel the same way.

And I’ll tell you why. My experience has shown that in the modern framework of the NFL it is darn near impossible to avoid lean years and downward trajectories. But never has it been more possible to change the fortunes of your team very quickly. So with that, i accept that we are sliding back a bit and remain hopeful that the things the front office and coaches are saying - but we aren’t seeing are going to be true and the franchise will work their way back into consistency and contention in a reasonable amount of time.

But there’s the rub…

What’s reasonable in todays NFL?

It feels like many people on this board think that one 7-10 season is all that’s allowed. I think to rebuild a team it requires patience and strategy.



Let’s look at the facts: Our cap situation has been terrible the past several years, we have some aging vets on both sides of the ball and no QB to speak of.

That’s not something that is likely to be fixed in one offseason.

It can be - but it’s unlikely.

Anyway, I don’t think we’ll contend next season and I’m not all that broken up about it. Sure I want more, I want better - but I also want to be realistic and also have some faith in the people leading the team. Though, I do admit it can be challenging at times.


Let me ask this…

How did all of you fans who are reeling right now feel in the offseason, pre draft following the 2016 season?

Our beloved coach Payton had just guided the team to a 3rd consecutive 7-9 season with one of the greatest QBs of all time at the helm.

Our coach was on the hottest of seats and I can’t imagine optimism was high for anyone.

2017 didn’t start out great either …. 0-2 out the gate. I’m guess nobody felt really great about our trajectory then either.

But what we didn’t know then was that the 2017 offseason had made up contenders once again. We don’t have Brees to guide us this time but my point is that fortunes can and do change quickly in the NFL.

We can’t control who the club hires and fires - so you have to decide if you can accept that. I do.


As for good news…

You were around for the golden era of Saints football. Think of all the Saints fans who never got that chance. I knew a few.

Think about how there are so many teams that have never had the success the Saints achieved.

Think about how at the end of the day - we get to root for a team we actually care about.


It’ll get better. It might get worse first.

But it will get better.

 

[Domeination]

It's probably just the bar being set to an all-time franchise high during the Payton/Brees era that nothing feels like it'll ever measure up.

I think it's more than that. Loomis made a bad hire in Allen, and now the best coaches beneath him are leaving the team. If Allen had come in and had a winning season and gotten to the playoffs but lost, very few would be saying he didn't measure up to Payton. We'd be excited about potential improvements. Even if he had won the last game instead of losing to a QB who had one of the worst performances of the season, most of us would probably be at least a little hopeful. But we are spiraling downward, and expecting at least mediocrity is not the same as expecting Allen to match the highest highs of the prior coaching regime.

 

[Que Que 6]

Regardless of whatever else they may do this off-season, the retaining of DA as head coach has me already writing next season off.

He alone is the reason why I plan to attend only about 2-4 games. He and PC combo makes my stomach turn.

 

[blackadder]

Everything happening right now points to it being Sean Payton who made the program into a sustained success.

As soon as he left, we reverted back to dumb dumb dumb decisions at every turn.

To be fair, Loomis has never been really much more than a cap, contracts, finance guy who makes the decisions his head coach wants made.

Departure of Payton, with the new input of Allen gets you this. But at the same time Loomis has to deal with all the bills due from all of Payton's "win now", swing for the fences decisions over the last 3-4 years, including the 2 #1 picks on project players like Davenport and Turner and all the can kicking on contracts.

What I have no idea of is who made the final calls on the draft reaches, Payton, Ireland or Loomis. I would guess Loomis was the rubber stamp.

 

[Gumbo's Dad]

I'm hoping we won't be in the cellar long. If we have a bad season this year, it leads to an early first round pick for a franchise qb and a new head coach. We hope. Loomis has not been on his A game lately.

 

[HoustonSaint68]

Maybe it's my age or the BS with Roger Goodell and the officials the last few years, but I am just apathetic right now !

Some of you older guys , that experienced the lean years of the Saints, are you feeling the same way ?? If anybody has any positive news , please share them. I think some of us could use it.

I think you're on to something here, perhaps.

I don't feel the same about all things NFL, including our Saints, since the Rams game fiasco and the clear officiating bias against us (conscious or subconscious)...and that on top of the NFL's overreaction to "Bountygate". I let go of Saints losses more easily now and watch a LOT less non-Saints NFL.

But this current period is NOTHING compared to having the complete sheetshow that was the Saints Mecom ownership, and the Ditka years. Not even close. I am totally fine giving Loomis a two-year mulligan if DA doesn't work out -- he's earned it.

 

[HoustonSaint68]

I don't blame you. It's going to be hard for me to pay for the tickets knowing that things are not looking good. I'm only keeping it because we've had them since 67.

Just curious, not challenging or criticizing: how are you feeling differently now than, say, the last Ditka years? Or the last Mora or Haslett year?

 

[HoustonSaint68]

And unfortunately the franchise did not have a good long-term succession plan.

To be fair, Payton was still under contract for a couple more years when he quit.

Loomis was wrong going with a "stability" approach in a weak NFC South, but it wasn't a totally unreasonable approach. He was just wrong, and things went off the rails so quickly that DA panicked and (among many other mistakes) trapped himself into week-to-week thinking. Accordingly, he didn't do the one minimum thing that he should have: finding out whether Winston could be our QB of the future.

 

[Tony1Saintfan]

Regardless of whatever else they may do this off-season, the retaining of DA as head coach has me already writing next season off.

I feel the same way. I just wish we had a direct way to let Loomis and Mrs. Benson know that other than empty seats in the dome. I doubt even that would have an effect on them because they see the dome as sold out due to the tickets already sold. I try really hard to be optimistic but my feelings won’t let me be that way. I’m fearful of several below .500 seasons and how that will impact the future of the team.

 

[Infoman]

I was already at this point last offseason, but I was much more alone in that. Now my misery has company.

That said, all it takes to change everything is a real QB.

If you look at the league right now, that’s literally all it takes. Bad news, they are hard as hell to get, but not impossible.