Saints end year strong but don't get help for playoffs, only have themselves to thank

The 2023 New Orleans Saints season is now over, and given the roller coaster nature of the Saints year, it ended in fitting fashion all things considered.

Welp. Another New Orleans Saints season in the books, and man what a chapter in Saints history it turned out to be. As we well know, if the Saints wanted to make the playoffs, they needed a lot of help. Most importantly though, they had to take care of their own business first, and boy did they. 

The Saints ran their most hated rival, the Atlanta Falcons, all the way out of the Big Easy by a score of 48-17. Now, the final score didn’t necessarily have to be that, but of course that’s a story for another time. 

The thing is, the Saints also needed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to lose to the lowly Carolina Panthers if they wanted to be crowned kings of the NFC South, and naturally it was more sweat-inducing than it needed to be, only for the Bucs to win 9-0. Elsewhere, a Wild Card berth was still on the table, but only if the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers took L’s against the Arizona Cardinals and Chicago Bears respectively. Neither happened, and the Saints are marching home. 

The fact of the matter is though, the Saints have no one to blame but themselves. 

The Saints are reason the Saints were in this spot. When you put yourself in a position where your fate is in the hands of others, and put yourself in a position to lose, then you may lose. That’s just the way it goes and that’s what happened to the 2023 Saints. 

It does add some sting that the Saints were looking like they were rolling though, however now we can turn our eyes towards the future and see if the momentum will carry over, with Dennis Allen still at the helm. For now though, even if it’s met with disappointment, the 2023 New Orleans Saints season has mercifully come to an end.