What's going wrong with the 1-4 New Orleans Saints?

I'll start like this.

From road to redemption to road to regression.

The Saints franchise.

is in a funk.

The Saints are a franchise in a funk.

1-4 is the exact same spot they were in a season ago.

But Andre, doesn't this 1-4 feel a little different? Doesn't it feel different? This 1-4 is not with the rookie head coach waiting for his real starting quarterback to be ready to go like last year.

Last year's 1-4 was frankly a little more forgivable, a little more accepting.

This year's 1-4

feels much more like an underachievement.

You know, I'm watching the game as we make our inevitable trek down from the sky-high press box down to the ground floor.

As I'm in the elevator, I head up.

And the clock ticked down.

I had a difficult time truly focusing in on just the Minnesota game, the one game butt-whooping that they took.

Instead, I couldn't help but view it really in this collective sense.

Collectively, this team, they felt so close.

when they walked off the field in Baltimore, stunning the Ravens, one and one, feeling good.

And why not? They just beat the Ravens.

They just shocked the world.

The Ravens had really played well in week one.

and had three straight home games coming up against the Las Vegas Raiders, against the Atlanta Falcons, and against the Minnesota Vikings.

All winnable opponents.

That feeling felt even closer at the first three quarters against the Raiders when they were up 27-16, but then came the fourth quarter sack fumble off Tyler Shuck, and this team has not looked the same since.

The last nine quarters of football have been so disastrous that it's grounded the early enthusiasm to a screeching halt.

With the head coach, who is looking more and more overwhelmed by the week, I'm sorry, there's just no other way to describe it.