Prime Time Nightmares: Saints Again Fall Flat In Front Of A National Audience

New Orleans has saved some of their worst performances for prime-time matchups, as was again the case in Green Bay.

Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) stiff arms New Orleans Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu (32) / Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

The New Orleans Saints put on an embarrassing performance during a 34-0 loss at the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football. Incredibly, it was the first shutout throughout the entire league in 16 full weeks of NFL football this season. For the Saints, it was the eighth time they've failed to score 20 points this season and fourth straight such outing.

This was abysmal from the start. New Orleans trailed 21-0 at the half, but it could have easily been much worse. Through the second half, the Packers just toyed with the Saints like a cat with a wounded mouse. Perhaps that was the most embarrassing part of an ugly evening in Lambeau Field.

When the NFL schedule was first released last spring, much of Who Dat Nation was angered that the Saints were only scheduled to appear three times in prime-time matchups. They shouldn't have been upset at all.

With their performances, New Orleans may hope for more afternoon games. The NFL may also not want such abysmal displays in front of national audiences.

Prime-Time Nightmares

Green Bay Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon (25) forces a fumble by New Orleans Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler (18) / Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/Imagn Images

The three times that New Orleans played a prime-time game this year was a Monday night at Kansas City, Thursday at home against Denver, and Monday's game in Green Bay. New Orleans lost all three matchups by a combined score of 93-23, an average of 31-8 per loss.

The Saints averaged a paltry 229 yards of total offense in those losses, scoring a total of three touchdowns in the process. Contrastly, the New Orleans defense has allowed an average of 417.7 yards in those games, including an astonishing 184 on the ground and five yards per rush.

These kinds of subpar performances in prime-time are unfortunately not new for the Saints. Since Drew Brees retired after the 2020 season, New Orleans has played in a Thursday, Sunday, or Monday night game 14 times. They are 3-14 in those contests. They've been outscored by an average of 25-14 and losing 7 of those 11 games by double-digit margins.

Since coach Sean Payton left the franchise after the 2021 campaign, the prime-time results are even worse. The Saints are 1-8 in front of national audiences since Payton quit, getting outscored 28.6 to 16.9. Six of those eight losses were by more than a touchdown.

In a short period of time, New Orleans gone from one of the NFL's top teams to one of the worst. Nowhere is that more evident than in prime-time matchups, where the Saints have saved some of their worst performances.