When the Saints won five of six games to get back to .500 on the season, it became fashionable to mark them a dangerous team, pushing for a playoff berth.
But a three-game losing streak that follow has revealed them for what they are, a flawed team that isn’t sure how to fix it, with time dwindling to do so.
“When you’re losing the way that were losing, you’re a fragile football team,” interim coach Joe Vitt said, via Jeff Duncan of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “We’ve got a lot of guys who are used to winning and doing things the right way around here. But, unfortunately, we don’t have enough of them. All of a sudden something goes bad and it’s, ‘Oh, here we go again,’ instead of just setting your jaw and drawing a line in the sand and having some mental toughness to get it done.”
The 52-27 beating they took from the Giants was the second-worst of the Drew Brees era, and tied the most points allowed since their quarterback joined them. In those last three, they’ve been outscored 106-61 and committed 11 turnovers.
The Saints only had one three-game losing streak under suspended coach Sean Payton. This is their second of the season.
“That’s not us,” Brees said. “We know better.”
Or maybe it is.