The New Orleans Saints have already been eliminated from the playoffs

It isn't even December (at least not at the the final whistle in Sunday's game), but the New Orleans Saints have already been eliminated from playoffs contention. First-year head coach Kellen Moore has steered the team into a 2-10 rut in 2025, the worst start for a rookie coach since the Saints' inaugural 1967 season, where they finished 3-14. Because the Saints lost to the Miami Dolphins while the Carolina Panthers upset the Los Angeles Rams, New Orleans was mathematically eliminated from being able to win enough games to close the gap in the NFC South. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Arizona Cardinals, too, which also would have eliminated the Saints.

We knew this year was going to be a rebuild. But even top decision-makers in New Orleans couldn't have anticipated this. They should have. The Saints missing the playoffs this year means longtime general manager Mickey Loomis has never built a playoff team in eight years without Sean Payton coaching it. Between his four years running the front office from 2002 to 2005 and the four years since Payton left the team from 2022 to 2025, none of those eight teams have qualified for the postseason.

Major change is needed to correct this course. Loomis is a big part of the problem, having mortgaged the future we're currently experiencing in order to build a contender around career losers like Dennis Allen (26-53) and Derek Carr (77-92). The Saints are paying $106.8 million in dead money for players not on this year's team. They'll be paying at least $65.7 million in dead money for players not on next year's team, either. That falls on Loomis. He swung big and he struck out. A Super Bowl ring that Payton and Drew Brees won for him can't save him forever.

We're rapidly reaching the point where Moore's own future with the team should come into doubt. He hasn't done anything well that you'd expect of a first-year head coach or an experienced play caller. The offense runs without rhyme or reason, stalling out in scoring position and on third downs. The team plays sloppy and unmotivated football. Moore spends long stretches of games looking at his play sheet and pacing the sideline, and looking out of his depth. If he can't make some things click through these last five games, we'll have to consider Loomis got the decision to hire him wrong, too.

This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: New Orleans Saints have already been eliminated from the playoffs