The New Orleans Saints are running out of excuses.
Last week, the Saints’ embarrassing 45-24 loss to the Atlanta Falcons raised serious questions about Kellen Moore’s tenure in New Orleans. After another disappointing performance, those questions are only getting louder.
The Saints fell 23-13 to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, dropping to 1-4 and losing their third consecutive home game. What was already a frustrating start to the season has quickly become a concerning trend under Moore, who is now
7-15 through his first 22 games as the Saints’ head coach.
And the numbers paint an ugly picture of where this team stands.
New Orleans is 3-8 at home under Moore and has struggled to establish any kind of consistency offensively. The Saints have yet to score more than seven points in the first quarter during his tenure, have held just one first-quarter lead and have led at halftime only four times in 22 games.
This goes beyond a few slow starts. It points to a team that consistently puts itself in a hole before halftime.
The Saints have scored just 35 first-quarter points under Moore, the fewest in the NFL over that span. They have also recorded 29 first-quarter three-and-outs, the most in the league, making it difficult to build momentum or put opposing defenses under pressure early.
Sunday’s loss to Minnesota was another example of those struggles.
The offensive struggles reached another level. The Saints finished with just 142 total yards, their fewest in a game since recording 128 in a 26-7 loss to Carolina in Week 2 of the 2021 season. It was also the third-fewest total yards New Orleans has recorded in a game since 2000, adding to Moore’s growing list of concerns.
The defensive numbers have not helped matters, either. The Saints have a minus-10 turnover differential under Moore, the third-worst mark in the league. It’s hard to win in the NFL when you struggle to start games and consistently lose the turnover battle.
Last week, the question was how much longer the organization would wait for Moore to turn his team’s preparation and execution issues into results. One week later, there is even less reason to believe the answers are coming quickly and given Gayle Benson’s comments yesterday, the clock is running out.
Firing a head coach midway into his second season is a significant decision, and the Saints still have time to change the direction of their season. However, patience becomes harder to justify when the same problems continue to surface.
At 1-4, New Orleans needs more than another promise to make adjustments. They need to show tangible improvement, particularly to open the game, where the struggles have become a defining characteristic of Moore’s tenure.
If the Saints can’t find a way to change that pattern soon, the conversation surrounding Moore’s future will only get louder.
