New Orleans Saints

The New Orleans Saints entered the NFL in 1967, the product of a campaign led by Louisiana congressman Hale Boggs and local businessman Dave Dixon, who convinced the NFL to award New Orleans a franchise in exchange for the state's support of a congressional bill beneficial to the league. The team was named the Saints in honor of the city's deep Catholic heritage and the jazz standard "When the Saints Go Marching In."

The first two decades were remarkably difficult. The Saints did not post a winning season until 1987—a twenty-year drought of futility that is almost unimaginable in modern professional sports. Coaching changes came with metronomic regularity: Tom Fears, J.D. Roberts, John North, Ernie Hefferle, Hank Stram, Dick Nolan, Dick Stanfel, and Bum Phillips all tried and failed to build a winner. Archie Manning, the beloved quarterback who spent ten seasons with the team (1971-82), was perhaps the greatest player ever wasted on a perpetually bad team.

The losing became a cultural identity of sorts. Fans famously wore paper bags over their heads at games, dubbing the team "the Aints." Yet through all the losing, the people of New Orleans never abandoned their team. The raucous atmosphere in the Louisiana Superdome—which opened in 1975 and became one of the NFL's most intimidating venues—remained a point of pride, even when the home team rarely gave fans much to cheer about.

Jim Mora's arrival in 1986 began the Saints' transformation from lovable losers to legitimate contenders. In 1987, the Saints finally broke through with a 12-3 record—their first winning season ever. The Superdome rocked like never before as the city embraced a team that had finally given them reason to believe. The win that clinched the first winning season—a victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers—remains one of the most celebrated moments in franchise history.

The Saints' defense during this era was nicknamed the "Dome Patrol" and featured one of the greatest linebacker corps in NFL history: Rickey Jackson, Pat Swilling, Sam Mills, and Vaughan Johnson. All four were Pro Bowl-caliber players simultaneously, and together they formed one of the most fearsome defensive units the sport has ever seen. The Saints made the playoffs four times between 1987 and 1992, though they never advanced past the Wild Card round—a source of ongoing frustration.

After Mora's departure, the Saints brought in Mike Ditka in 1997, whose larger-than-life personality clashed with the franchise's modest resources. Ditka's infamous decision to trade an entire draft to select running back Ricky Williams in 1999—including donning a wedding dress and veil for a magazine cover announcing the selection—remains one of the most talked-about moves in NFL history. The Williams trade was a disaster, and Ditka was fired after going 15-33 in three seasons.

Jim Haslett brought stability and a brief return to glory in 2000, when the Saints went 10-6 and won their first-ever playoff game—a 31-28 upset of the defending champion St. Louis Rams. The Superdome was bedlam as the Saints exorcised decades of postseason demons. Haslett was named Coach of the Year, and for a brief moment, the Saints seemed poised for sustained success.

But consistency proved elusive. The Saints managed only one more playoff appearance under Haslett before he was fired after the 2005 season. The team's mediocrity, however, was overshadowed by a catastrophe that threatened the franchise's very existence. In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, displacing hundreds of thousands of residents and leaving the Superdome—which had served as a shelter of last resort—severely damaged.

The Saints were forced to play the 2005 season as nomads, splitting home games between San Antonio and Baton Rouge. Serious questions arose about whether the franchise would return to New Orleans at all, with some suggesting a permanent relocation to San Antonio or Los Angeles. The city's future, and the Saints' place in it, hung in the balance.

The Saints' return to New Orleans in 2006 was one of the most emotionally powerful moments in American sports history. New head coach Sean Payton and newly signed quarterback Drew Brees—a free agent coming off a severe shoulder injury that scared away most teams—led a resurgence that transcended football. The reopening of the Superdome on September 25, 2006, against the Atlanta Falcons was a cathartic event for the entire city, and Steve Gleason's iconic blocked punt on the game's first drive became the defining symbol of New Orleans' recovery.

Brees and Payton built one of the most prolific offensive attacks in NFL history. Brees broke passing records with stunning regularity, becoming the NFL's career passing yardage leader and one of the most accurate quarterbacks ever. The partnership reached its apex in 2009, when the Saints went 13-3 and captured Super Bowl XLIV with a thrilling 31-17 victory over Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts. Payton's aggressive onside kick to open the second half—called "Ambush"—was the turning point, and Brees was named Super Bowl MVP. The championship gave New Orleans a joy that went far beyond sports.

The subsequent years brought continued regular-season success but postseason heartbreak. The "Bountygate" scandal in 2012, in which the Saints were found to have run a bounty program targeting opposing players, led to Payton's season-long suspension and tarnished the franchise's reputation. The 2017-2019 seasons produced three consecutive 11+ win campaigns, but each ended in devastating playoff fashion—most infamously the 2018 NFC Championship Game, when a blatant pass interference no-call against the Rams cost the Saints a trip to the Super Bowl, sparking a rule change and a permanent wound in Saints fans' hearts.