My take on the New Orleans Saints disaster

Today was one of the worst days in the history of the New Orleans Saints.  Absolutely the worst day in the history of the franchise, which has a rich history of amazing disappointments, almost all but wiped out by the Super Bowl victory and the permanent location of a Lombardi trophy in the Crescent City.  The 2009 season and the 2010 Super Bowl helped to erase some 43 years of mediocre to just plain bad seasons.  Do we remember the many losing seasons, the bags over our heads, 1980 and just 1 lone victory, Big Ben, the 2005 post-Katrina season and threat to lose the team, even in victory four winning seasons under Coach Mora with not 1 post-season win, enduring the Ditka disaster; need I go on? 

Fast forward to the arrival of not only Sean Payton, but Drew Brees, and drafting Reggie Bush and in an instant, the 2006 Saints stunned the world with instant victories and falling short of their first trip to a Super Bowl, losing to the Chicago Bears on the road.  After two 50/50 seasons, the Saints added some performers on defense, Brees became even better, and the rest is history.  13 straight wins, 3 oh well losses, devastating performances against Arizona followed by the overtime thriller in the NFC championship against Minnesota and the long suffering Saints, and their fans, are in the Super Bowl.  And who will ever forget that night as the Saints, spotting the Colts an early lead, stun the sports world with an offsides kick, some smooth offense, and a defensive interception that sealed the deal.  New Orleans Saints: World Champions; Super Bowl Champions; the darling of the football loving nation.  More than winning a Super Bowl, the Saints of 2009 healed a city, put Katrina a little further in the rear-view mirror and gave all New Orleanians, some scattered across this great country, hope.  And more than hope, the Saints helped restore New Orleans pride and placed many a smile on a heretofore smile-less face.

Strong and competitive in the two succeeding years after the Super Bowl, all we can focus on tonight are these stiff penalties from a stupid pay for performance plan that Greg Williams seemed habe brought to the Saints.  No matter how we feel, even if we want to defend our Saints or just say, well everyone does it, the bottom line is the Saints got caught and even worse, got caught lying.  As horrible as this scheme was; as stupid and unnecessary to boot, the penalties are over reaching and seem to be far too severe.  Does the punishment fit the crime?  If a Saints fan; of course the answer is no.  If a Saints hater, or maybe one who decries the fact that NFL brand of pro football is violent, you may agree with the penalties.  It seems that many pundits, commentators and others agree with the Saint fan.  Of course this matters not as the ruling from NFL commisioner Roger Godell is the law.

Never before has a NFL team faced an entire season with the loss of a head coach for disciplinary reasons.  And we lose coach Payton in 10 days.  He won't be around for the draft, the remainder of free agency, game planning, training camp, or throughout the entire football season.  And he won't even be back for the first four months of 2013.  Who takes over the team?  What does the team do?  The guy the Saints had picked to stand in if Payton was going to miss a few games, Assistant Coach Joe Vitt, got his own 6 game suspension.  Plan B?  Plan C?  Mickey Loomis will miss 8 games too.  Who handles player personnel issues?  Will Drew Brees get a contract done and soon?  Does he even wonder about his short-term future?  Will current unsigned Saint players leave for less controversial pastures?  And will any free agent dare sign with the Saints?  Ironically, the Saints signed free agent Buckley from Denver.  I wonder how he feels now?

More practical questions: will the Saints defense in 2012 get a fair shake from NFL officials?  Will every close call be called a personal foul?  Will officials look the other way when opponents tee off on Brees or a Lance Moore crossing into a passing lane?  Can a Saint fan safely attend a Saint road game in the opponents arena?  Will the Saints now be universally hated across the NFL?  Will there be any season ticket holders demanding a refund?  Only time will tell.

Here is my take tonight.  As a Saints fan I say we endure this challenge as best we can.  We who are fans must weather this storm like all the many storms in the long history of this team.  We must declare Saints fan then, now and forever!

I'm afraid we will be talking about this for some time.