The 2024 season will be seen as another “what could have been” for New Orleans.
This is something that is becoming all too familiar for Saints fans.
Six months ago, I booked two trips to New Orleans. One in November for the traditional Atlanta Falcons ‘Hate Week’ and another at the end of December for the Las Vegas Raiders game, my birthday and New Years Eve.
Two weeks into the season, I thought this was an inspired choice and even started looking at Super Bowl tickets. Imagine the New Orleans Saints reaching the Super Bowl in their own city. Imagine being there.
For anyone who has visited New Orleans and knows their love for the team, you will know how special that would be. And after a blistering start to the season, we dared to dream.
The Falcons game was pure enjoyment. We did not expect to win. A seven-game losing streak will do that to you. But we did. It was joyous. Could the team turn the season around and make an unlikely playoff push?
The present
Boxing Day. I am once again cruising in the familiar Boeing 77N over the Atlantic Ocean at 35,000 feet, two hours into another trip returning to my home away from home.
I cannot wait to land in my favourite city and see some of my favourite people in my favourite spots. But Sunday….well, Sunday might be painful.
The bubble has most definitely burst. Even the most optimistic fans, myself included, who were holding onto the very last shred of hope for the 2024 season, finally gave in.
A 34-0 shut out at the hands of the Green Bay Packers last weekend was not wholly surprising, but still a tough, bitter, below-zero pill to swallow.
The Saints have a problem. That problem is there are many problems. These problems are not going to be fixed by one good draft, even with a relatively high pick.
The cap juggling of previous years is not going to allow a blitz in free agency. General manager Mickey Loomis is still holding the reigns. So can we expect anything different going forward?
And therein lies perhaps the biggest question for the next era of the New Orleans Saints. Owner Gayle Benson finally pulled the trigger on ex-head coach Dennis Allen this season. But the remnants of the Sean Payton era still remain.
The future
The search for a new head coach in the offseason is critical. The right hire can turn a franchise around. But with the same general manager, can the organisation find itself again?
The last general manager change saw the team reinvent itself, bringing in a new head coach and quarterback who steered the team to its first Super Bowl. Maybe that is what is needed again.
Every change they have made since feels like too little too late.
The New Orleans Pelicans, the city’s NBA franchise, shares the same ownership and general manager. Their record is good enough to be seen as worst in the NBA this year. This is after reaching the playoffs last season. Something is wrong.
I still believe the Saints can emerge from the fog. They just have to be prepared to do what is necessary. And what is necessary is becoming clearer by the day.
In the meantime, I am eternally grateful the team that chose me is part of a city that will never grow old to me.
I am forever NOLA.
