New Orleans Saints 14 - 26 Chicago Bears

The Saints somehow found a way to have a more upsetting loss than their horrific loss to the Seahawks earlier this season. They were bad across all sides of the ball, plain and simple. Spencer Rattler might have had the worst game of his career, and Dennis Allen looked like the best DC in the league. For Spencer Rattler and Saints fans in the year 2025, that may be the worst outcome possible. 

The Positives

This is going to be quick, because there are only two positives that stand out to me. Chris Olave. Chase Young. Two players that are clearly solid building pieces for this team in the future. 

Chris Olave had a huge bounce back game after his tough performance last week, in which he had multiple drops. He turned in those drops for two touchdowns in this one, something Olave had never previously done in his career, which is a great sign for this team’s future. Although Olave had those two massive touchdowns, I really wish the Saints tried to get him more involved both earlier and later in the game like they did last week. There are rumors going around the NFL and social media that the Saints and Chris Olave are working on an extension, and if true, Chris Olave may have earned himself a few extra million dollars today.

Chase Young has only played two games for the team this year, as he suffered a calf injury before the week one matchup with the Cardinals. That being said, in the two games he has played, last week and today, he has definitely made an impact for this team. In this game he batted down two passes at the line, and had a half sack shared with Bryan Bresee. These numbers aren’t jaw dropping statlines that the top edges in the league may put up, but Chase was providing a great amount of push on his side. The problem is, most times Chase Young is getting push, Chris Rumph, Carl Granderson, or Cam Jordan fail to do so and Caleb Williams was able to freely roll out the opposite way. If the Saints go into the draft and get a game wrecker edge to go across from him, the pass rush could immediately be set up for success next season. Right now, the pass rush does not look good at all, and they’re giving quarterbacks all the time in the world in the pocket, but Chase Young is a sign that there may be light on the horizon. 

The Negatives

Spencer Rattler played his worst game of the season today, if not his whole career. He finished the game 20 of 32 for 233 yards, 2 touchdowns, 3 interceptions, and a fumble lost. Woof. In the first half, before the final drive, Rattler was clearly flustered by the Bears defensive line getting constant pressure. He had less than 10 passing yards until that final drive where he found Olave two times for one massive gain and a touchdown. He then followed that up with another touchdown to Olave, but the struggles soon came back thereafter. Spencer Rattler threw multiple bad picks today, each being directly to a defender, and one being into triple coverage. 

Spencer Rattler is a guy that Saints fans wanted to be more aggressive, myself included, and he finally seemed to jump head first into an aggressive playstyle without any second thought. On his second interception, it appeared as though he could have ran for a few yards. Instead? He ended up waiting too long and practically directed Kevin Byard to the interception. In addition, he had a throw that should have been picked off, if it weren’t for two Bears defenders absolutely crushing one another and breaking up the pass. 

This performance heats up the Shough conversations, and they are now louder than they have ever been before. Spencer Rattler couldn’t afford an implosion game like he had today, and this performance on top of his record, really makes the Saints consider seeing what they have in the 40th overall pick (at least in my eyes). I’d completely understand if Kellen Moore and the team want to give him another shot next week against the Buccaneers, so that the team can see if this was merely a fluke performance. Spencer Rattler needs to find a midpoint between his aggressive and conservative playstyles to succeed in this league, and if he can’t, then I could see Tyler Shough’s number being called in the 504 soon. 

Both the offensive and defensive lines played terribly today for the Saints, with the run game not being able to pick up anything against the worst defense in terms of rushing yards per game, and the defense allowing over 6 yards per carry to both featured Bears running backs. Early in the game, Jaquan Brisker was able to get pressure through Taliese Fuaga, Juwan Johnson, and Alvin Kamara, and the Bears were able to get pressure on Rattler even when the Saints had max protection to help Rattler. It is inexcusable, nothing else to say. On top of this, Erik McCoy went down with an arm injury in this one, with Kellen Moore saying some concern is present. Without McCoy, this offensive line could have massive struggles on the inside, and put even more demand on the young tackles who don’t need more on their already full plate. 

The defense struggled against the run in this one, with holes that trucks could drive through being available for both Swift and Monangai multiple times. Not only that, but the holes opened up so quickly that the running backs were able to get to the second level at full speed, making it harder on the linebackers and secondary to make tackles. Let me say this too, it has nothing to do with the defensive line, but Justin Reid absolutely struggled all over the field today. Talking about run defense made me think of it, but Reid was terrible in run help and also had multiple blown coverages. If I had a say, I’d put in Jordan Howden, and get on the phone to move Reid for some draft compensation. 

I can’t believe I am having to write about him again, but Blake Grupe missed another kick. Is he the reason the Saints lost the game? No, but he surely isn’t someone any fan or player involved with this team should trust to go out there and help win them games. Yes, the kick was from over 50 yards out. Yes, the weather wasn’t great. It doesn’t matter anymore. He has been given his chance to clean it up and he has failed. Kellen Moore and Co. need to do something to apply pressure this week, whether that be giving Charlie Smyth a real shot or bringing in some kickers for tryouts. It may not solve all of the Saints issues, but it would at least mean that Kellen Moore does not accept mediocrity and constant mistakes. 

Kellen Moore did not have a good game as a playcaller. He had a great two drives on the two drives that ended in touchdowns, but had numerous questionable decisions sprinkled throughout today. First of all, running inside on third and long is very uninspiring, and makes me lack the trust he has in Rattler. However, he decided not to run on third and fourth down when the Saints needed less than a yard on their final offensive possession of the game, which tells me he didn’t trust the run game. Additionally, Kellen Moore has failed to truly get Devaughn Vele involved in any game this season, which makes no sense considering they invested draft compensation in him when the team needs nothing but more draft picks. If you trade for someone, especially a fourth rounder, you need to make them a part of your gameplan. Kellen Moore has showed some promise, and by no means is he the reason this team is failing (at least so far), so I want to see if he improves throughout the rest of the season. 

Closing and Team MVPs

By no means did I think the Saints were a sure thing to win this game, but I definitely believed they could make it close. Players across all phases of the game looked like they have never played the sport before, and that can’t be happening this late in the season, especially when veterans are some of the ones making the mistakes. The Saints need to commit fully to the younger players on this roster, and see what they can do the rest of this season. I don’t think Shough will start next week, but if Rattler somehow turns this performance into a trend, Shough will get playing time this season. 

Offensive MVP: Chris Olave

Defensive MVP: NONE. Pathetic. (2 weeks in a row)

Special Teams MVP: NONE. (Can we please put Shaheed back there on kickoffs if we aren’t going to use him more as a receiver?)