LET'S PLAY HANGMAN (OR, _AINTS TALK)

Ah, another Saints game, another loss. Yesterday's pitiful showing against the Bears makes it five "L"s in a row, and a once promising season, even after Katrina, almost officially goes down the toilet. It's not that they mailed it in; they certainly tried, the only problem is they're simply not good enough. Even against a rookie QB who came out of the fourth round, and who gave them three turnovers in the first half, the Saints gave up big passes when it mattered.

The problems with yesterday's game:

1) The defense continues to play its corners way too far off of receivers to make a difference. For a couple of corners who supposedly enjoy playing man-to-man coverage (I'm talking to you, Mike McKenzie and Fakhir Brown) they sure do play soft and give WRs big cushions. It showed when Orton ate them up in short passes (when the Bears' run game wasn't eating us up).

2) The coaching continues to be questionable at best. I understand Jim Haslett's been under a ton of stress. I get it. So have tons of other people. It doesn't make excuses for being an idiot. All Aaron Brooks does is give games away. Pull him already. I acknowledge that Todd Bouman isn't any better and Adrian McPherson isn't ready. At the very least it tells your players that you won't put up with stupidity (instead of calling out the team, saying that you'll cut any player who quits, and then turning around and cutting your third string tailback, who you just traded for and by releasing him it means you won't have to give any compensation to the team he came from. That sends a message, sure.), and if there's one thing Aaron Brooks' play epitomizes, it's stupidity. After one of the turnovers the Bears so generously gave us, Brooks turned right around and threw a patented idiotic interception. I swear Brooks can't handle prosperity. If he won the lottery he'd lose his ticket. Pull him.

Also, when is a coach going to realize that when the score is tied, you've not been able to stop your opponent all day, and you're out of timeouts that the best thing to do is to let the other team score? Tied at 17 and with two minutes to go, the Saints essentially let the Bears do exactly what they wanted to do, which was run almost all the time off the clock before kicking a field goal. It forced the Saints to go for a Hail Mary with 4 seconds left. Why not let them score a touchdown, giving yourself two minutes to go down the field and tie the game, giving yourself a chance in overtime? Yeah, it's the exact opposite of Dick Vermeil's decision to go for the win with no time remaining from the 1, but it sounds a lot better than "let them do what they want and put us in a position to make a HIGHLY unlikely play, one that usually works against us but never for us."

Another thing about Aaron Brooks. If there's ever been someone who doesn't deserve a team records, it's Brooks. He's now one passing TD away from tying Archie Manning for most TDs by a Saints QB. Can we avoid this somehow? I'm not saying someone should purposefully hurt him, but if a lineman were to stumble over his feet and knock his helmet into Brooks' knee or something, putting him out for the season, let's just say I wouldn't cry over it. This isn't quite the Barry Bonds taking over Hank Aaron's homerun record, but it's close.

3) Hey Tom Benson, if Tiger Stadium's so based in Mad Max that you're fearful for your life, good move in sending your granddaughter there by herself. That's a classy move. In another note, evidently Terry Bradshaw is putting together an ownership group to attempt to buy the Saints and keep them in New Orleans. I know he likes to play the village idiot on Fox NFL Sunday, but Bradshaw's a good guy and this push, if it happens, THAT would be a classy move.