2 takeaways from the Saints loss to the Bucs

1. The season is officially over

The season has felt over for a while now, but if the Saints were able to pull out a victory on Monday night they would sit just a half game back with a much more favorable schedule compared to the Buccaneers as well as the tiebreaker. Now they effectively sit three games back with four to play. There’s no way that a 4-8 team should have entered a Week 13 game with a decent chance to win the division, but that has just been the NFC South this season. Now that the Saints sit at 4-9, two more losses or two more Buccaneer wins will eliminate them from the playoffs, and it’s hard to feel optimistic at all at this point.

Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

2. Pete Carmichael should be fired as soon as possible

The Saints offense ranks 16th in the NFL in yards and 22nd in scoring, which follows the 2021 season in which they were 28th in yards and 19th in scoring. These two seasons were the first time the Saints have been outside the top 12 in the league in either category since 2005. Losing your Hall of Fame quarterback and a top 3 head coach in the league will hurt, but the problem with the Saints offense of late has not been a lack of talent but rather a lack of creativity and innovation that we saw under Sean Payton. It has been evident all year that Carmichael’s playcalling on offense was a huge problem, but Monday night should be the last straw. The playcalls in the final eight minutes of the game were nothing short of inexcusable. Throwing the ball on 3rd and 1 on a play with one primary receiver, and again electing to throw on 2nd and 10 with one WR on the field who was just called up from the practice squad should never be in a coaches mind in the scenario the Saints were in on Monday night. It’s now clear that after 13 seasons with the Saints Carmichael has worn out his welcome, and is a failure as an offensive coordinator without a Hall of Fame quarterback and head coach to rely on.

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