The New Orleans Saints faced an incredibly tough loss against the Minnesota Vikings in the Divisional Round of the playoffs. They were among the better teams this year and while I picked the Vikings, the Saints had been clicking on such a level that I thought they’d make it.
I thought that even harder when the Saints took the lead with 25 seconds remaining. But they lost, and now all they can do is try and improve — and lament their fortunes. General manager Mickey Loomis is doing some lamenting, and the San Francisco 49ers are related.
“Look, for the rest of my life, I’m going to feel like, ‘We were this close to being in three Super Bowls,’” Loomis said, via NOLA.com. “And hopefully it’s more than that.”
See, Loomis thinks the Saints were very close to making it to three Super Bowls — the 2009 game that they won, this past season with the strength of their team and a last-minute win stolen from under them and ... the 2011 divisional playoffs, when the San Francisco 49ers scored on a last-minute touchdown to take the win.
“Listen, I felt the same way after ‘11 when we got beat in San Francisco,” Loomis said, also via NOLA.com. “The path to getting to the Super Bowl was right there in front of us. Now, look, we would’ve had to complete it - I’m not saying we would have, no different from this one. But there was a path.”
Now ... I don’t have any particular ill will for the Saints or anything, but the prickish part of me is pretty happy to see someone still thinking about a loss handed to them by the 49ers. So, let’s all take a moment and be jerks together: haha!