Must Win
 

Not to be overly dramatic, but Sunday is pretty close to a must win.
We lose and we are looking at 2-4 with 4 tough home games and at Carolina, and then at Pitt in the cold. Going 5-1 in that stretch would leave us at 7-5 with the 'easiest' quarter of the schedule left.

We haven't played anywhere near our potential. Or, if we have, we are in trouble.

Re: Must Win
 

Not sure if it is a must win overall because we can lose and still own our division. But if we want to have any kind of legit life in the post-season, I agree, because we have blown these early season games.
If the team that goes to Detroit doesn't show significant changes, though, we may need to swallow the reality pill nearing mid-season.

Re: Must Win
 

I try and be as optimistic as possible. Numerically speaking, probably not a must win. But, to me, we don't win this game and we are toast for the season.

Re: Must Win
 

I think the pressure is on New Orleans to win this one. If Detroit loses, no big deal, just another day in the Motor City ... if New Orleans loses, I begin to wonder if the season isn't already too far gone, just sayin', :neutral: ... hey, on the up side, I think you guys have been here before & it's worked out for ya' in the past, ;) ... keep the faith & continue to march ... bet.

Win or lose, at the end of the day, none of us are Failclowns, so it's still a pretty good day, :D.

Re: Must Win
 

Not a division game. Not a must win.

"Significant" changes...? Not really. Every game lost (save Dallas) has been close.

Tackle, limit turnovers and mistakes. We should be fine.

Re: Must Win
 

It's not a must win game necessarily......but we sure need that win.

Re: Must Win
 

It's a "must play better".

Re: Must Win
 

Until it's an elimination game, it's not a must win. But, with Green Bay, Carolina, San Fran, Cincy, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Carolina again, and Da Bears following in a brutal NFL schedule stretch, it's as important as it gets. Right now, on paper, the Saints will only be favored against the Bengals because they get them in the Superdome. I think the best this team can do is be 7-7 after that stretch. The possibility is there to be 5-9.

Re: Must Win
 

Same can be said for Carolina and Atlanta. They both have tougher schedules than we do.

Re: Must Win
 

Tougher schedules AND less talented teams.

Carolina's strength is their D line and a QB with a good skill set.

Atlanta's is their offense which seems to be in severe decline.

Re: Must Win
 

Well, a loss here and the storyline of the Saints season starts to look a lot like the 2012 storyline or plot -- "our backs are against the wall, but if we can just get it together, and clean a few things up, once it starts clicking for us, any day now we will get back to normal and we'll right the ship and win a bunch of games" and of course everyone waited around for it to happen all season, and the window kept closing and closing and it never did happen. And the same thing happened again last year, with the slump during the road games -- they just needed to win one, ANY one, just one road game out of the last five, and we could have won the whole division. The team and Drew and the coaches told us the same spin, they just needed to clean a few things up, any minute it's going to start clicking, but again no, they couldn't get it done and it didn't happen.

So yes, it is a must-win, because we are basically looking at a Saints team that as of right now at this moment has gone 9-9 in its last 18 games. And 21-18 in the last three years.

Re: Must Win
 

I actually like our chances from here on out. We've lost games, lost starters and learned lessons. IF these guys don't respond well following the bye week, I'll be concerned.

Re: Must Win
 

Losing and going 2-4 will be a death blow to the season. (My opinion) It is a must win anyway you measure it. But we are 2-1 over the last 3 and looked like a Saints team the last qtr+OT. Things are looking up.

Re: Must Win
 

Pretty sobering numbers, but to be fair you stopped right before we ended a 5 game win streak

9-9 over the last 18 (.500)

14-9 over their last 23 (.61 win%)

16-10 over the last 26 (.62 win%)

So basically our numbers indicate were a 10-6 team over the last 2 seasons.

Re: Must Win