Saints playoff odds plummet after embarrassing Week 6 loss

After six weeks of the NFL season, the New Orleans Saints already have four losses. Unfortunately, all four losses came in the last four weeks. The team is in a rut it can’t seem to find its way out of, and the seemingly unending injuries certainly aren’t helping.

From a big-picture view, the Saints are absolutely still alive— every team technically is. New Orleans is only two games back in the NFC South, and the team has only played each team in the division once. With three more divisional matchups, and 11 remaining regular season games in total, the Saints absolutely could get this thing turned around.

Unfortunately, the odds aren’t on New Orleans’ side.

Saints’ playoff odds

Following all the Week 6 games, ESPN released updated playoff odds for every team. The Saints now have a 15% chance to make the playoffs. After Week 2, the Saints had the best chances to make the playoffs. Just a week ago, New Orleans had a 40% chance to make the postseason. Week 6 sent the team’s odds on a rapid descent.

Beyond making the playoffs, New Orleans has a 5% chance to win the NFC South, a less than 1% chance to be the NFC’s top seed, and a 1% chance to make the Super Bowl.

Typically, getting to 10 wins gets a team into the playoffs. Last season, every team with at last 10 wins made the postseason. In the NFC South, the best record was 9-8, held by New Orleans and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs held the tiebreaker, so they represented the division in the playoffs.

For the Saints to get 10 wins, they’ll need to go 8-3 in the last 11 games. New Orleans was in a similar situation last season, starting the year 3-4. The team finished out the season winning six of its last 10 games, but were ultimately a game short. The Saints are hoping they can actually pull off a second-half run this season.

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