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New Orleans Saints are 4th Most Disliked NFL Franchise

You know it's definitely the off-season when we start having to read articles like this.

Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sport

The fine folks over at Fox Sports have decided to kill some of the boredom that is the NFL off-season by putting together a power ranking of each NFL franchise by likability.

Surprisingly, they've got the Saints ranked as the 29th most likable NFL franchise overall. In other words, they're the 4th most disliked franchise, right in between the Eagles and the 49ers.

With such a low opinion of our favorite team, surely they're going to bring up the recent Bountygate farce as reason to hate, right? Let's see what they say:

Drew Brees is a nice guy, but he's not enough to hide the stench of owner Tom Benson, who is a slimy businessman, and head coach Sean Payton, a bratty looking dude who always seems like he's up to no good.

Uhhhhh, what? No mention of the "B" word, yet Tom Benson is the major reason you don't like the Saints? I really don't get that. The only people I know who dislike Tom Benson are Saints fans themselves because of his post-Katrina effort to relocate the team to San Antonio and that's all water under the bridge now.

Am I missing something? Does Tom Benson have a bad reputation outside of New Orleans that I don't know about? It's not like he pops pills while driving or refuses to give up a derogatory team name. The poor guy can't even step down from a podium without falling down and hitting his head.

The Sean Payton thing I can kinda understand.

Still, I'm not sure all of this adds up to being one of the more unlikable franchises in the NFL. I'm biased, admittedly, but this seems a bit much. No?