1991 New Orleans Saints season

Last updated

1991 New Orleans Saints season
Owner Tom Benson
General manager Jim Finks
Head coach Jim Mora
Home stadium Louisiana Superdome
Results
Record11–5
Division place1st NFC West
PlayoffsLost Wild Card Playoffs
(vs. Falcons) 20–27
Pro Bowlers LB Pat Swilling
LB Sam Mills
LB Rickey Jackson
LB Vaughan Johnson
ST Bennie Thompson

The 1991 New Orleans Saints season was the team's 25th season in the National Football League. The Saints won their first-ever division title, and reached the postseason for the second consecutive year. However, they lost their playoff opener at home in the wild card round to their bitter division rival, the Atlanta Falcons, and would have to wait another nine years before winning their first playoff game in franchise history.

Contents

The 1991 Saints had 48 defensive takeaways, tied for the most for any team in a single season in the 1990s. [1] Statistics site Football Outsiders calculates that the 1991 Saints had the second-best defense in the NFL (behind the Philadelphia Eagles), and one of the top-ten defenses of all time, in terms of efficiency. [2] This was also the first season where four linebackers from the same team made the pro bowl, which the Saints would do again the next season. Says Football Outsiders,

The Saints were led by their linebackers, with Sam Mills, Vaughan Johnson, and Pat Swilling all making the Pro Bowl and Rickey Jackson being awesome without getting a trip to Hawaii. It wasn't really the easiest year to find space on the NFC Pro Bowl defense, was it?

The season saw the adoption of the Cha-Ching slogan from a Rally's advertising campaign. [3]

After the season, Brian Forde and Kevin Haverdink retired.

Offseason

NFL draft

1991 New Orleans Saints draft
RoundPickPlayerPositionCollegeNotes
242 Wesley Carroll   Wide receiver Miami (FL)
5126 Reggie Jones   Cornerback Memphis
6154 Fred McAfee   Running back Mississippi College
7182Hayward Haynes  Guard Florida State
8210 Frank Wainright   Tight end Northern Colorado
9237Anthony Wallace Running back California
11293 Scott Ross   Linebacker USC
12321Mark Drabczak Guard Minnesota
      Made roster  

[4]

Personnel

Staff

1991 New Orleans Saints staff

Front office

  • Owner/general partner – Tom Benson
  • President/general manager – Jim Finks
  • Vice-president of administration – Jim Miller
  • Director of player personnel – Bill Kuharich

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches

Strength and conditioning

  • Strength and conditioning – Russell Paternostro

[5]

Roster

1991 New Orleans Saints roster
Quarterbacks (QB)

Running backs (RB)

Wide receivers (WR)

Tight ends (TE)

Offensive linemen (OL)

Defensive linemen (DL)

Linebackers (LB)

Defensive backs (DB)

Special teams (ST)

Practice squad

47 active, 10 inactive, 3 practice squadReserve


Rookies in italics

[6]

Preseason

WeekDateOpponentResultRecordVenueAttendance
1August 3 Minnesota Vikings W 18–31–0 Louisiana Superdome 58,593
2August 10 Green Bay Packers W 31–202–0Louisiana Superdome55,730
3August 17at Indianapolis Colts L 28–342–1 Hoosier Dome 45,963
4August 24at Miami Dolphins L 24–282–2 Joe Robbie Stadium 44,099

[7]

Regular season

Schedule

WeekDateOpponentResultRecordVenueAttendance
1September 1 Seattle Seahawks W 27–241–0 Louisiana Superdome 68,492
2September 8at Kansas City Chiefs W 17–102–0 Arrowhead Stadium 74,816
3September 15 Los Angeles Rams W 24–73–0Louisiana Superdome68,583
4September 22 Minnesota Vikings W 26–04–0Louisiana Superdome68,591
5September 29at Atlanta Falcons W 27–65–0 Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium 56,556
6 Bye
7October 13at Philadelphia Eagles W 13–66–0 Veterans Stadium 64,224
8October 20 Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 23–77–0Louisiana Superdome68,591
9October 27 Chicago Bears L 17–207–1Louisiana Superdome68,591
10November 3at Los Angeles Rams W 24–178–1 Anaheim Stadium 58,713
11November 10 San Francisco 49ers W 10–39–1Louisiana Superdome68,591
12November 17at San Diego Chargers L 21–249–2 Jack Murphy Stadium 48,420
13November 24 Atlanta Falcons L 20–23 (OT)9–3Louisiana Superdome68,591
14December 1at San Francisco 49ers L 24–389–4 Candlestick Park 62,092
15December 8at Dallas Cowboys L 14–239–5 Texas Stadium 64,530
16December 16 Los Angeles Raiders W 27–010–5Louisiana Superdome68,625
17December 22at Phoenix Cardinals W 27–311–5 Sun Devil Stadium 30,928
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Playoffs

RoundDateOpponent (seed)ResultRecordVenueAttendance
WildcardDecember 28 Atlanta Falcons (6)L 20–270–1 Louisiana Superdome 68,794

Standings

NFC West
WLTPCTDIVCONFPFPASTK
(3) New Orleans Saints 1150.6884–28–4341211W2
(6) Atlanta Falcons 1060.6255–17–5361338L1
San Francisco 49ers 1060.6253–37–5393239W6
Los Angeles Rams 3130.1880–62–10234390L10

Regular season

Week 3

New Orleans Saints 24, Los Angeles Rams 7
Quarter1234Total
Rams00707
Saints7071024

at Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana

  • Game time: 8:04 p.m. EST
  • Game weather: Played indoors, domed stadium
  • Game attendance: 68,583
  • Referee: Tom Dooley
  • TV: TNT

Rams Jim Everett completed only 6 passes against the Saints defense, while Craig Heyward scored 2 touchdowns to send the Saints to a 3–0 record.

Playoffs

NFC Wild Card Game

Atlanta Falcons 27, New Orleans Saints 20
Quarter1234Total
Falcons01071027
Saints760720

at Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana

Falcons quarterback Chris Miller completed the game-winning 61-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Michael Haynes with 2:41 left in the contest. Miller completed 18 out of 30 passes for 291 yards and 3 touchdowns. Saints go to the playoffs in 1992 but lost in the NFC Wild Card to the Eagles 36-20

Awards and records

Milestones

References

  1. Pro-Football-Reference.com: In a single season, from 1990 to 1999, in the regular season, sorted by descending Takeaways, tied with the 1991 Philadelphia Eagles.
  2. Football Outsiders: 1991 DVOA Ratings and Commentary
  3. Scott, Mike (July 21, 2016). "The 1991 New Orleans Saints, and the season of 'cha-ching'". NOLA.com. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
  4. "1991 New Orleans Saints Draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  5. "All-Time Roster". NewOrleansSaints.com. Archived from the original on June 18, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2011.
  6. "1991 New Orleans Saints starters and roster". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  7. "1991 New Orleans Saints season". Pro Football Archives. Retrieved October 28, 2023.
  8. NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book . Workman Publishing Company. 2001. p.  457. ISBN   0-7611-2480-2.