NFL franchise all-time power rankings: Which organization comes out on top?

22. New Orleans Saints

Speaking of lovable losers, the New Orleans Saints were known as that franchise for decades. They could never get themselves out of the gutter in the NFL Standings. The Saints joined the NFL in 1967 and didn’t get their first playoff win until 2000. Ironically, they beat the Greatest Show on Turf in the Rams, but was it worth a 34-year wait? 

Prior to last season, the Saints were 53 games under .500 over its history. There is a LOT of losing near the Bayou. They went 20 consecutive seasons without a winning record or a playoff berth. Archie Manning tried his hardest, but he wasn’t able to get this franchise to be anything besides a bottom-feeder. The biggest flub in the history of this franchise, and a choice that could have changed everything came in 1981. They chose Heisman Trophy running back George Rogers. Rogers was quite good, but Lawrence Taylor went two. Taking the best defensive player in league history would have changed how we look at the Saints today.

Let’s fast forward to 2006 because that’s when things changed. The Saints were dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The area was not only destroyed, but those who survived and stayed were emotionally reeling. New Orleans needed an escape, and that came in the form of Drew Brees and Sean Payton. Payton was hired in January of 2006 and Brees was signed that March. 

There is only one other one-two-punch head coach-quarterback combo that turned a franchise around more than Payton and Brees (Brady and Belichick). Brees eventually brought a Super Bowl title to New Orleans, and he broke a number of NFL records during his time in New Orleans. It was an amazing time to be a Saints fan, but they’ve been somewhere in the middle since Brees retired. Despite their title, it’s impossible to ignore decades of losing and put them higher on the list.