Drew Brees, Sean Payton and the Saints Are Complete Chokes and That's the End of the Story

Watching this happen as NOT a fan of the New Orleans Saints is difficult enough. For all my friends in the Big Easy, I'm sorry. Your city is magical and deserves better than this, but it's time we fully face the facts and understand the Saints are a team that cannot handle the big moment.

Sunday's Wild Card Game solidified this argument. Kirk Cousins came into the Superdome and got his signature NFL moment. That simply cannot happen. And this isn't anything new.

Blame the missed pass interference call last season all you want. Blame the NFL for not reviewing the potential Kyle Rudolph OPI Sunday. The fact of the matter is that this team should've NEVER been in the position to allow the refs to control their fate.

Let's start with the obvious. Head coach Sean Payton seems to be completely unable to function in the playoffs ever since the Saints' Super Bowl victory 10 years ago. Don't believe me? His postseason record is 4-6 since then, and his only convincing victory came against the Detroit Lions back in 2011, a 45-28 triumph against a team that hadn't made the postseason since 1999.

Payton lost to a 7-9 Seahawks team in Seattle. He nearly lost to the hobbled Eagles in New Orleans last year. Do we have to bring up the Minnesota Miracle again? Plain and simple, this is bad head coaching. How is the team not prepared for these big moments?

If we focus on Sunday's collapse, we can start with the playcalling. It was not Saints-esque. Michael Thomas wasn't targeted nearly enough against a depleted Vikings secondary. Alvin Kamara and Latavius Murray combined for 12 (!) rushes. Taysom Hill was easily the team's best offensive player. What happened to the high-octane Saints offense we watched all year average 28 points per game and 33 in their last three contests? They couldn't have come into the playoffs with more momentum.

Payton strayed from the Saints' identity and tried to get too cute. We don't even need to get into the other blunders, like his inability to throw the challenge flag or use timeouts properly.

Then, there's Drew Brees, who likewise cannot get it together in the playoffs. The future Hall of Famer has 12 turnovers in his last 10 postseason games since his first and only Super Bowl victory. Oddly enough, New Orleans is 3-4 in games in which Brees commits a turnover, with the other two losses coming in Seattle, where he passed for a total of 713 yards and three touchdowns. Clearly, something isn't syncing up here.

But these last two years have been alarming. The QB has been holding onto the ball for way too long and making poor decisions. His interceptions against the Rams and Vikings (plus a costly fumble on Sunday) in the team's last two postseason games have cost the Saints dearly, with the former coming in overtime and the latter coming just before the half to help swing the momentum in Minnesota's favor. Why doesn't Brees look like himself in the postseason as of late? Who knows, but his four playoff wins since 2009 came against Matthew Stafford, Nick Foles (twice) and Cam Newton. That's not exactly impressive, especially when you're losing to Matt Hasselbeck, Colin Kaepernick, Russell Wilson, Case Keenum, Jared Goff and Kirk Cousins.