The New Orleans Saints aren’t just bad in 2024 — they’re historically down bad in the team record books, or at least its encyclopedia at Pro Football Reference. The Saints lost to the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, 25-10, which put them at 5-11 on the year with just one game left to play.
How bad is that? It’s the first time they’ve lost 11 or more games since the infamous 2005 season, which was derailed by Hurricane Katrina. The Saints went 3-13 that year. With the Superdome seriously damaged by the storm, the Saints played “home” games at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, the Alamo Dome in San Antonio (three times), and LSU’s Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge (four times). They were outscored 398-235 that season. This year, they’ve been outscored 371-319.
It’s been a long time since the team was this hard to watch. They never bottomed out like this with Drew Brees and Sean Payton leading the team. The Saints can’t take more half-measures and play it safe with hiring decisions. They must accept the reality they’ve made for themselves and rebuild this team from the ground up. That might start with moving on from Mickey Loomis, the longest-tenured general manager in the league, whose record without Payton is now 49-65. We’ll just have to wait and see whether team owner Gayle Benson agrees his time has run its course.
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