The New Orleans Saints football franchise participates as one of the four members of the Southern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League. The New Orleans Saints currently play in New Orleans, Louisiana, and tout uniform colors of old gold, black, and white.
The New Orleans Saints can trace their beginnings to the year 1966, when New Orleans was granted a National Football League franchise on the 1st of November, which was also, All Saints Day. Tom Fears was named as the teams' first head coach. The New Orleans team was officially named the Saints in January of 1966. The teams' uniform colors were chosen as such because of New Orleans' strong ties with the oil industry.
They played their first game against the Los Angeles Rams, but were defeated in a 27-13-season opener. Fans that had New Orleans Saints tickets saw their favorite team achieve their first victory against the Philadelphia Eagles, whom they defeated in a 31-24 contest. The New Orleans Saints would season after season fail to reach a 500 season for approximately a decade of play. The New Orleans Saints, however, still had games with highlights. On a November 8th, 1970 game, the New Orleans Saints' Tom Dempsey kicked a 63-yard field goal to set a National Football League record and that would lead to a win over the Detroit Lions by a score of 19-17. The 63-yard field goal record still stands with only one other kicker from the Denver Broncos tying. The New Orleans Saints struggled to play football for most of the 1970's and the first part of the 1980's.
In 1985 Tom Benson an automobile businessman bought the New Orleans Saints. Benson then hired Jim Mora as the New Orleans Saints' head coach. In 1987 the New Orleans Saints would achieve a winning record of 12-3. They entered the playoffs as a wild card team going up against the Minnesota Vikings. They would end up losing to the Vikings by a score of 44-10. In both 1988 and 1999 the New Orleans Saints would finish their season with winning records. In 1990, the New Orleans Saints would again enter the playoffs as a wild card entry, but would end up losing to the Chicago Bears. This seemed to be the pattern of play for the New Orleans Saints.
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