'Stunned' Saints Fans Hoping for Best, Fearing the Worst

NEW ORLEANS -- The NFC's No. 1 seed, the bye week and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs -- can it get any better if you're a New Orleans Saints' fan?

Thanks to the rare hot hand of Bears quarterback Jay Cutler and Chicago's overtime victory over Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night, the Saints' last-place NFC South finish in 2008 was officially replaced by the best regular-season finish in the conference in '09. How 'bout dat 13-2 record, mistah?

And yet, the celebration is muted in N'awlins. The black and gold Mardi Gras beads and fleur-de-lis go-cups were hurriedly put away Sunday evening. That's because a magical Saints season became mortal as soon as Buccaneers kicker Connor Barth sent a 47-yard field goal through the uprights in overtime at the Superdome, giving Tampa Bay a shocking 20-17 victory and New Orleans fans more indigestion than a pot of bad crawfish.

There were boos, expletives, catcalls and hoots, along with a smattering of polite applause as Saints players and coaches left the field after surrendering 20 unanswered points to one of the lousiest teams in the NFL. The Superdome was numb. Poydras Street, which normally would be filled with hard-drinking revelers -- win or lose -- was barren.

Make no mistake -- New Orleans was not happy.

"In many ways, this was even harder to watch than losing to Chicago in the 2006 conference championship game," said Mary Beth Romig, who is a spotter at Saints games for her father, Jerry, the Saints' beloved press box announcer the past 41 years. "Because that year was so wonderful, with it happening so close to [Hurricane] Katrina, it was just storybook.

"That story of the '06 season, that's the stuff of movie scripts. That doesn't happen to New Orleans."

What took place at the Dome Sunday against the Bucs? "That's more like what we're used to," Romig admitted. "I'd say the mood here is stunned. Not shocked. Stunned."

Romig also is the director of communications and public relations for the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors bureau, so she has a pretty good handle on the city's pulse. Her family is embedded in Saints' culture. Jerry, who just turned 80, is a regional treasure. Her brother, Jay, has worked for the franchise for 35 years in various administrative roles.

"Speaking as a Romig here, this is all pretty tough to take," Mary Beth said of the Saints' two-game losing streak. "Not speaking for others, but we have a little different perspective. Our family feels it a little bit deeper than most."



Again, this is a two-loss team that has just secured the NFC's No. 1 position entering the playoffs. Win or lose Sunday at Carolina -- and many expect the faltering Saints may slip up again in Week 17 against the resurgent Panthers -- New Orleans can't lose its bye or home-field advantage.

So that's a little lagniappe (loose Cajun translation: a cherry on top) for the forever-challenged Who Dat Nation, which has been feeling a little less invincible these days.

Then again, New Orleans talk radio this week has bristled with declarations that the Saints are destined to be a one-and-done disaster in the postseason. And the jeers, curses and bad voodoo that rained upon the players Sunday after the Bucs' upset have left Saints players torn.

Wide receiver Robert Meachem spoke thoughtfully of how badly he felt for disappointing New Orleans and the state of Louisiana.

"When we win, it's even better for our fans. When we lose, it doesn't just hurt us, it hurts out fans, too," said Meachem, who beat himself up for failing to gain one yard on a fourth-quarter catch from quarterback Drew Brees, a failed third-down conversion that opened the door for the Bucs to take the game into overtime. "We feel like we let them down."

"You saw the Dome at the end of the game -- everyone was in shock. Nobody left the game. They stood there, and there were still some people cheering. We let those people down."

Then there was defensive end Charles Grant, who heard nothing but the boos.

"Right now, what's heartache for me ... when you walk off that field and you've got guys out there playing their balls to the wall, and you've got folks in the stands screaming and hollering, 'Y'all [expletive] suck.' You know, you don't do that," Grant said. "This team has worked harder than anybody I've been around for eight years. This group of men in the locker room, they work hard in the offseason. They do everything to be accountable to each other. Hey, look, we're 13-2 right now, we've still got a chance to go to Carolina and be 14-2. The New Orleans Saints ain't never been 14-2.

"I mean, we know what we have to do as a team. But stuff like that ticks people off. Players don't want to hear that after they got out there and played over a 60-minute ball game. Don't be a bandwagon [fan]. Don't jump on and jump off. Don't do that. That ticks me off."

Was this an overreaction? If you've been a Saints follower, familiarity with losing breeds the contempt.

A sense of dread first surfaced on Dec. 19 when the Dallas Cowboys beat the Saints at home, a crushing 24-17 loss that seemed so unlikely, many in New Orleans are convinced the NFL rigged the outcome to ensure that Jerry Jones' team would remain alive in the playoff hunt.

The NFL's highest-scoring offense is slightly less impressive than it was in Week 12, when Brees threw for 371 yards in a 38-17 victory over the New England Patriots and the team was averaging 37 points per outing.

The Saints defense hasn't been terribly special this season, except for its turnover ratio (plus 14; 39 takeaways, 25 giveaways) and its red-zone stinginess -- opponents score inside the 20 only 40 percent of the time -- but it had been good enough to get the job done. Until the last two weeks.

"We could accept the Dallas loss because it was Dallas. But last Sunday, the feeling was all about anticipation. Everybody had such high hopes that we would win that game, clinch home field advantage with that game," Romig said. "But to lose like they did this past Sunday ... this town was just stunned. Not shocked. Stunned."

How bad could it be, Saints fans?

Sure, the scoring average has dipped slightly to 33.3 points per game -- but no other NFL team puts up more than 30. Brees was just selected to his fourth Pro Bowl team and is the first Saints player to be named a three-time Pro Bowler. Playmaking free safety Darren Sharper and guard Jahri Evans also were named Pro Bowl starters.

All the while, the celebration is guarded in Louisiana, if only because the years of disappointment that have shrouded the Saints' franchise are still too persistent to ignore.

"You have your uber-fools, who say the Saints are going to disappoint and crash again. But the true fans were just stunned by what's happened the last two weeks and they're trying to get their bearings," Romig explained. "I think people in New Orleans think a Super Bowl win is almost too good to hope for.

"This [losing streak] is a little bit tougher to take. Vegas is still picking us to win the Super Bowl and you see this dip this team has taken. But all of these fans that are bailing on the Saints, they forget that we're usually talking about who we should draft this time of the year, not who we're going to face in the playoffs."

It's important to keep that in perspective. New Orleans is pretty good at lifting its spirits, whether it's with a toast at Galatoires or the soul-stirring completion of a new home in the storm-ravaged Lower Ninth Ward. A little blip in what already is the finest regular season in Saints' history shouldn't diminish the celebrations in a glorious city that lives for them.

Brees, who has done so much to rebuild and revitalize New Orleans, and Meachem, who cares so deeply for his fan base that a loss nearly brings him to tears, won't let that happen. They feel a sense of responsibility that goes far beyond the paycheck and the accolades.

"When the fans are cheering and we're winning for them, that means the world to us. Because we give them life," Meachem said. "For us to give them life, to give them hope, and then we lose a game like that and disappoint everyone, we know what we have to do.

"We have to do everything in our power to give them back that life next week."