Gospel artist Kirk Franklin hit the stage for the halftime show Monday night sandwiched between two of the worst two halves of football the [New Orleans Saints](https://www.nola.com/sports/saints/) have played in recent memory.
Fittingly, Franklin’s opening number was his hit “Brighter Day,” a fitting song title for what Saints’ fans are hoping for after the gloom and doom of walking out of Caesars Superdome with a 45-24 beatdown handed out by the rival Atlanta Falcons.
The song choice by New Orleans rapper Juvenile at halftime was just as suitable. Juvie sang “Slow Motion,” which is how the Saints looked as Falcons’ running back blew past them three plays into the game to set the tone.
Cam Jordan called the loss a gut punch.
But this felt much worse than just a gut punch.
This was more like a Mike Tyson uppercut that the Saints didn’t see coming, knocking them back into reality and showing them just how far they have to go to get to where they want to be.
Losses like the no-call and the Minnesota Miracle and Beast Quake may have hurt more because of what was at stake.
But as far as the regular season goes, you won’t find many losses in Saints history worse than what happened in this one: losses by 21 points to your biggest rival on a star-studded night on the NFL’s biggest regular season stage tend to linger.
Playing in prime time for the first time since 2024, the Saints had a chance to make an emphatic statement to the entire football world:
“We’re back.”
Instead, they said “we’re going backwards.”
The NFL’s grandest stage looked too big for them.
This one will be etched in your memory for a long time. And even when you try to forget about what happened on Oct. 5, 2026, your “friends” in Atlanta will make sure to remind you about it every chance they get. That’s what rivals do.
All the momentum from that surprise win against Baltimore two weeks ago vanished, much like the Saints fans disappeared in the fourth quarter when this one got completely out of hand.
The boos in the Dome for a Saints-Falcons game are usually reserved for the team wearing the black and red. But the guys in black and gold got their share of boos from the home crowd this time, too.
And truth be told, they earned every one of them with their play.
“When you’re playing the Falcons and you lose like that, I’d boo too,” quarterback Tyler Shough said.
if you’re trying to find some silver lining in what was a very dark cloud, this was just the fourth of 17 games. The Saints are 1-3. Most people expected them to be at 2-2 at best through the first four games. But the problem with this loss is how they lost. You can talk yourself into saying the Saints were just too banged up to stop Bijan Robinson and Company and just call this one of those nights. How the Saints respond to this loss will go a long way in determining that.
The concern is the uncertainty about the Saints’ issues being fixed any time soon.
Kellen Moore, in his second season as head coach, has yet to figure out how to get his team to start faster. The Saints have trailed at halftime in 18 of the 21 games since he took over. They have yet to play consistently for four quarters. Playing from behind and forcing Shough to have to play hero ball in the second half isn’t going to work. The Saints can’t run the ball and they can’t stop the run. They haven’t been good in the trenches on either side of the ball. Special teams play, other than the one game against the Ravens, has been mediocre. Penalties come at the most inopportune time. Those are all the things you expect from a bad team.
Moore blamed the struggles on not being prepared and not executing.
The preparation falls on him.
The execution falls on him and the players.
Shough had this to say after the game.
_“I don’t want to feel like that ever again.”_
Saints fans feel the same way.
The Saints have a quick turnaround, hosting the undefeated Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.
Saints legend Drew Brees will be inducted into the team’s Ring of Honor at that game.
Maybe the celebration of the greatest player in Saints history will turn out much better than the celebration of one of the greatest plays in team history.
Perhaps, as Franklin sang, it’ll be a brighter day.
It certainly can’t be any worse.