NFL Week 8: Saints' Season On Life Support After Another Lackluster Performance

The Saints are down and almost out after their latest lackluster performance against the Chargers. The bigger problem is they have no answers to fix it either.

Oct 27, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Ladd McConkey (15) runs the ball for a touchdown against the New Orleans Saints during the second half at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images / Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

INGLEWOOD -- It's somewhat safe to say that the Saints' season is on life support. I wouldn't call it dead just yet, but we're almost there. New Orleans just lost its sixth straight game and is now 2-6 on the season. Under different circumstances, you might say that things could turn around and they have time, but that's simply not the truth here. This team is lost and has no answers, and I don't know how many other ways you can say that something has to change. The surface level problem suggest that nothing will, however.

"We'll go back, get to work, hopefully get a couple more guys back and hopefully start playing some better football," Dennis Allen said during his postgame press conference.

There's that word again. Hope. The Saints' business strategy is hoping that they play better football when they get more of their guys. They got them back this week and it didn't make a difference whatsoever. They also lost more of their guys too.

You're now in a position where you would have to win 7 of the final 9 games just to get into a 9-8 spot when you're going to hope the chips will fall your way. Spoiler alert. They will not. The Saints are the second worst team in the NFC, with the Giants set to play on Monday Night Football. Change is needed, but change isn't coming.

Allen has made it clear that change is only going to come with what they have. Allen said on the message to the team, "It's the people in the room in there that has to change it." He later said they have to do a better job of coaching the details. The problem is this is a reoccurring theme. These games are starting to resemble the movie Groundhog Day. It's been the same product on the field and they can't do much of anything.

The defense did play better, but the offense struggled heavily. They had chances and opportunities. The game even started the way you wanted it to with the way they moved the ball early on, even if it didn't lead to points. You saw how many self-inflicted wounds were out there, and those 7 penalties for 66 yards were huge.

Now add on more injuries to an injury-riddled team. For every two steps forward, they take at least five back. Kendre Miller hurt his other hamstring. Marshon Lattimore reaggravated his hamstring. Juwan Johnson got evaluated for a concussion. Bub Means hurt his ankle at the end of the game. Rico Payton has a back injury, and Adam Prentice is dealing with something based on what we saw after the game.

There's no magical closed door meetings that will take place for the Saints either. Dennis Allen says he doesn't feel any more sense of having to have conversations with general manager Mickey Loomis because he has conversations every day with him. This has become one of the worst teams in the NFL, and they have no answers to change the narrative. I thought they hit rock bottom last week, but maybe I was wrong. This team is the equivalent of what a street in New Orleans looks like after a Mardi Gras parade, and it looks like they're fine with it right now.