The New Orleans Saints open the 2026 season in Detroit full of optimism that this is the year the Black & Gold return to playoff territory.
This game also marks the beginning of the franchise’s 60th year in the NFL. And on this, the Diamond Jubilee anniversary (60th), I’m looking for any positive narratives that align with my feelings that, this season, our playoff-drought ends.
But to move forward, we first have to travel back in time, to 2020, the last year the Saints reached the postseason (also their 4th straight NFC South Division title). During that stretch, many fans approached regular-season games as a weekly excuse to party until the playoffs; then we could get serious. Yes, back then, we were spoiled.
The last time the Saints played the Lions in Detroit was October 4th, 2020. The Saints were off to a 1-2 start and found themselves traveling to battle a home team looking to even out their own record.
It was an unfamiliar position for Sean Payton’s squad. During each of the previous two seasons, the Saints had only lost 3 games.
Saints fans weren’t ready to adjust to the thought of a 1-3 start to the season. And they weren’t ready for how that road game began in Detroit, either. By the end of the first quarter, the Who Dat Nation fell behind 14-0 following two Matthew Stafford touchdown passes. You could feel the season slipping before it hardly had time to start.
But then, Drew Brees and the Saints we loved came to life…and then some.
The Saints scored the next 5 touchdowns, flipping a 14-0 deficit to a 35-14 lead by the third quarter.
That was a time when Saints football felt like a video game. And even though Detroit scored the last two touchdowns, it wasn’t enough. The Saints went to Motown and motored out with a 35-29 victory.
If you don’t remember the game too well, don’t worry; I’m sure you watched it. You weren’t there, but you watched it.
In fact, nobody was there. The Lions played their first two home games with zero fans in the seats because of the Covid epidemic.
Ultimately, that come-from-behind victory to avoid a 1-3 start did much more than get the Saints to .500. That win kicked off another Black and Gold run, reeling off nine straight wins to finish with a 12-4 record.
The 2020 season ended at the Caesars Superdome with a Buccaneers (the eventual Super Bowl champs) triumph over the Saints in the Divisional round with a score of 30-20, a game played in front of only 7,500 fans. Six years after that game, I’d still bet my house, or the bank’s house, that a packed Superdome changes the outcome of that game. Tom Brady was able to bark out play changes at the line of scrimmage without the thundering force of the Who Dat Nation making that nearly impossible from the stands… But I digress.
Point is: That division-winning run kicked off at Ford Field in Detroit, a game with a shaky start. Might we see history do what it does and repeat itself, leading to another stretch that ends with the Saints climbing back into the postseason?
Few “experts” predict that the Saints will win the game that kicks off their 60th season. But Saints fans, like diamonds, are forever. #WhyNotUs
