Loss to 49ers feels like being continually punched in the gut
 

Some losses are so bad that when you get home, your dog kicks you.

The New Orleans Saints only played once this weekend, but somehow, they lost four times. They keep losing. They will wake up tomorrow and feel like they lost again. Players lose, fans lose, gamblers lose, bar owners in the French Quarter lose ... well, OK, I suppose bar-owners in the French Quarter always win. But everybody else loses, again and again.

Here are the Saints' four losses:

1. They fell behind San Francisco 17-0 in the second quarter. They have Drew Brees and all his toys on offense, so they had a bit of hope, but teams that fall behind 17-0 in road playoff games are generally finished. Saints fans had to feel like they had lost already.

2. After coming back to take a 24-23 fourth-quarter lead, the Saints let Alex Smith run 28 yards on a quarterback keeper with 2:11 remaining. This was an especially brutal way to lose, because Smith was a notorious bust before this season. He really should change his name, just to ease the pain of losing to Alex Smith (My suggestion: Alex World Peace). Also: 28 yards on a quarterback run around the left tackle? That play should not go for 28 yards in a video game set to "cheat" mode.

3. The Saints scored a touchdown 34 seconds later, but then they allowed Alex &(^^%((^%$** Smith to lead the 49ers all the way downfield, where he threw a 14-yard strike to Vernon Davis for the game-winning touchdown. This had to feel much worse than a normal loss, because Saints fans got their hopes up three times -- during the week before the game, when they came back from that 17-0 deficit and again when they took the lead in the final two minutes.

4. On Sunday afternoon, the top NFC seed, the Packers, got crushed by the New York Giants. This means that, if the Saints had just picked off that last 49ers pass -- if Alex &(^^%((^%$** Smith had played like the old Alex Smith -- they would have hosted the Giants in the NFC Championship Game.


Read more: New Orleans Saints' loss to San Francisco 49ers really hurts - Michael Rosenberg - SI.com

After 40 plus years of woulda coulda shoulda, I'm numb to the pain of losing games we should have won.

Do you keep picking at the scab by endlessly watching ESPN and reading Sports Illustrated online?

I do...I'm not sure why...

We have advanced from saying, "wait 'til next year" after week 10 to getting knocked out of the playoffs for 2 straight years after a SB win. I'll take it.

I havent let it go yet. Can't, especially after the Giants win... oh fark man we would be going to the sb had we just not let that happen...hurts more

I wish I could go into hibernation until draft day. Oh hell, their replaying the game on NFL network right now. Can someone suggest a good ledge for me to jump from?

did you hear Brandon Jacobs on NFL32 talking about how the Giants really did not want to play in New Orleans again?

He said it was like the black hole: you go down there and just disappear.

We'd already beaten them mentally. The game would have been just that much easier. AAARRRGHH!!!!

I quit watching the sports talking heads last Thursday. I won't watch again till the pre-season. I just don't want to keep re-living the past. I'd rather move on and hope for a better 2012 season. Since we are hosting the Super Bowl in 2013 and no team has made it to a Super Bowl hosted by that team's city, it would be nice to have the Saints accomplish that.

I can assure you that the Giants are feeling like their stars are aligning. They did not want to come to NO.

This is kinda the point I was making in an earlier post. At least we have a team now where accomplishing what you say is not such a stretch. In the past, it was just a pipe dream.

How do you think it feels to be a FailClown fan, being subjected to repeated replays of the blocked punt in the Dome on Monday night that lifted New Orleans to new hope? Poor Atlantans... I think about that sometimes and it is fantastic! Depending which side of the ball you're on, football can be a mean and heartless game.

I am watching Fashion Police on E!.
Well, it is a whole lot better than watching NFL Net or ESPN.
I am not watching those shows and did not last weekend on Saints report.
Depending on NYG, I don't know if I will this weekend.
That is what I am doing.
I am about to turn in anyway.

I have thought about how cool it would have been for the Saints to play NYG and woin and then NEPats in SB and win there. These currents Saints under Coach SP and Bress would have defeated two Mannings and their teams and one Brady and NE Pats.
Two Mannings and one Brady, umm, there would be no other team or qb Brees could defeat unless he was going to play against himself, LOL.
Those guys , the Mannings and Brady, are the top qb's around today.
Well that was my dream before 6:30 PM CST last Saturday. I had a nightmare after that. :-)

Keep in mind, I only watched the first qrtr. I could not take it anymore. I figured, if they won and they would, I could catch it on rebroadcast. I am still not going to watch the game.

I remember, and I know many of you do to, when the Saints were going to the Playoffs in the mid, late 1980's.
The game was at the Dome and the Saints were playing against the L.A. Rams. They were the L.A. team then.
The Dome was deafening. I lost my voice. Police were brought out on horseback around the field. The Saints had this. They won this. Do you understand?
It was the last 1 min. or so , some small amount of time was left like that and then , L.A Rams did something and won. The Dome was as quiet as abandoned building. Not real. Unbelievable.
I cannot remember the score, date, and what the L.A. Rams did, but they won. It took a long time for , I mean, the Saints had, won that game. Done. I do not know what happened but L.A . Rams won.
I remember just asking, what happend. It was like this 49's game in that IT happened it seems as fast as you can turn on a light switch.

I don't think I like California. Now since I think about, I don't like California. That is what I can draw from this :-)

These current Saints have come a long way from those days when 8-8, WOW!!!! 9-7 , yoo-whoo!!! Talk about a winning season. Oh boy! Everyone would talk about, next year. We would even be happy then , content, with 7-9. Hell, that was better than the all time great Saints record, about 1980, 1981, of 1-15. They won A game. One. LOL!!!

That was a long time ago. Really, this current team and coaching staff have just gone where we never thought our hometown team could ever go.
People, other fans, now do not even like the Saints. Way back, the Saints made no difference one way or another to other NFL foootball fans or teams, because , why. Only thing people and other teams liked was, hey, playing the Saints, call that a W for the other teams at the start of the season.
Now, the Saints have enemies. They are a feared team. They are a team of men, teams would now prefer not to play against if given the choice. Fans don't like the Saints. The Saints are no longer, well, harmless. Even the name Saints, is not saintly anymore to this team like it used to be.


All we can do is hope and pray for next year.
I just hope Eli calls his family friend for a little info, Drew, and they discuss the who, what and Eli and NYG cream the 49's.

We could be happy with that now...kind of...as best as I can be anyway.

all i have to do is think about all those years me and my old man which has passed over 20 yrs ago endured and it puts a tiny grin on my face.
but it still hurts like heck to go the way we went and a d. coordenater shags asre before we can run him out just stinks it up a little more. still have to thank him for the superbowl we have, darn-it.

st. thomas, you said it better and way shorter than I did.
Thnx.

Atlanta getting SPANKED, and Green Bay losing has definitely helped ease the loss. We had a great season and in the end we died by the blitz. We will just be the first home team to win the Superbowl now. How great is it that over the last 5 years we have had 3 division titles and Superbowl win? It's a great time to be a Saints fan.

I gotta say, the best medicine so far for me, has been to just keep watching football. Even this morning on the way into work, Mike and Mike were doing a spot on the San Fran win. They were re-playing the SF commentators, and what they were saying during those last two drives....

Now, initially, I thought, "No way I can deal with listening to this crap." But honestly, trying to be as non-homer as possible, I forced myself to listen to the entire segment. It was actually helpful. Honestly, while it sucks for us as Saints fans, if you listen to the excitement in the announcers calling the game, you can't help but feel good for them (sort of, maybe).

My point is, while I can't bring myself to watching the replay, best medicine for me has been to just enjoy whats left of the season, as a pure football fan, and just put the loss behind me.

watched the replay last nite and i have to say if u don't want a relapse of being kicked in the nuts don't watch. sickning just sickning. freakin shanle was so close to busting that to hell but he's not only slow in feet but in mind also. i'm sorry for this distasteful outlashing on one person but he's not the only one that got turned around on the final play. jenkins looked lost too like the d.c.

do we realize how close we were to our next super bowl victory. it was all falling into place. i don't think if we won if it was going to change the outcome of the greenbay loss. knowing we had a home game against a team we dominate , yea we could have lost to new york, but NOT. AND MOST PROBABLY MEET BRADY IN ONE OF THE BIGGEST SHOOT OUTS IN SUPER BOWL HISTORY, JUST CRYIN SORRY its good therapy

I havent watch any tv or answered my cal phone since saturday.

You are not far off base. I know the EXACT feeling the 49ers and the fans are having right now. I haven't forgotten where WE came from. Reading there forums and hearing all the reports brings back memories of not long ago.

I am not going to be a hater just because we lost. The game we had was what playoff games are suppose to be. They are when every player is trying to play at there best. The folks on here that thought this was going to be a blowout, a walk in the park, were just delusional.

So props to them. We tried as hard as we could but in the end, it was our defense's job to stop them and they failed.

Now we regroup and set our sites on being the first team to play in a SB in their own stadium!! :bng: