The Saints’ playoff stumbles have developed into a full-blown curse

It would be too easy to call Sunday’s stunning conclusion to the New Orleans Saints 2019 season, “Non-Call II.’‘

Truth be told, the New Orleans Saints are in the midst of a full-blown Playoff Curse.

How else does one explain what happened Sunday afternoon inside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on the fifth day of January in the Year 2020?

For the third consecutive year the Black and Gold were dealt a cruel and unusual punishing end to what seemed like a promising Super Bowl run, this time a 26-20 upset loss in the fifth minute of overtime to the Minnesota Vikings on Wildcard Weekend.

Tight end Kyle Rudolph outfought Saints cornerback P.J. Williams for a 4-yard touchdown catch in the back left corner of the end zone to end the game and trigger immediate cries of foul play. Rudolph could have, and perhaps, should have been called for pass interference. After reviewing the play, NFL senior vice-president of officiating Al Riveron said “none of the contact rises to the level of a foul.’‘

The winning play against the Saints painfully mirrored previous walk-off playoff losses at home to the Los Angeles Rams in overtime in January 2019 (“Non-Call I’‘) and on the road to the aforementioned Vikings as time expired in January 2018 (“Minneapolis Miracle’‘).

Call it bad luck. Call if Murphy’s Law. Call it getting outplayed and out coached. Even Saints coach Sean Payton acknowledged the Vikings “deserved to win.’‘

Or, call it a Playoff Curse.

Whatever one calls it, the Saints have squandered yet another golden opportunity to claim a second Lombardi Trophy, a bookend if you will for the first one obtained in Super Bowl XLIV at the end of the 2009 season.

And quarterback Drew Brees isn’t getting any younger. He turns 41 on Jan. 15. Technically, he now enters the offseason as a free agent.

And while No. 9 likely will become a first-ballot Hall of Famer five years after he steps away from the game, he wasn’t the best quarterback Sunday in the Superdome.

Vikings quarterback Kirk “You Like That?’‘ Cousins outplayed Brees. And so did Brees’ teammate, the gadget man, Taysom Hill, who excelled whenever or wherever Payton put him in the game at quarterback, wide receiver, running back and even upback in punt formation.

Hill accounted for 125 yards from scrimmage on seven touches. He led the Saints in rushing with 50 yards. He completed the game’s longest pass of 50 yards. He caught a 20-yard TD pass from Brees in the fourth quarter. And Hill even provided the lead block on Alvin Kamara’s 4-yard scoring run in the second quarter.

In fact — I can’t believe what I’m going to say — but I left the Superdome thinking the Saints might have been better off with Hill taking more snaps under center or in shotgun formation. Every time Hill touched the ball he seemed to make a positive impact.

Now before anyone from Who Dat Nation accuses me of committing football heresy or disrespecting Mr. Saint, I’m merely saying Brees didn’t display his “A game.’‘ He certainly didn’t play like December’s NFC Offensive Player of the Month.

He committed two turnovers, one of which led to the Vikings’ go-ahead touchdown right before halftime.

It matters little now.

The Saints (13-4) are no longer on the Road to Super Bowl LIV after being waylaid by an unsuspecting road underdog in their home stadium. Meanwhile, the sixth-seeded Vikings (11-6) are preparing to play the top-seeded San Francisco 49ers (13-3) in Santa Clara, California, in the divisional round.

Last year, angry Saints fans boycotted watching Super Bowl LIII in protest of the non-call by the officiating crew in the NFC Championship game, choosing to party instead in the French Quarter. One fan filed a lawsuit against the league. In response to the egregious error, the league even approved groundbreaking rules changes to review offensive and defensive pass interference.

I’m not sure how to respond to a Playoff Curse.

Maybe an NFL exorcism is in order.

This story was originally published January 6, 2020 at 9:28 AM.