The Saints no longer control the opportunity to have the number one seed in the NFC playoffs after losing a wild 48-46 contest to the San Francisco 49ers in the Superdome. This game had six lead changes. Coach Sean Payton ‘s team falls to 10-and-3 on the season.
“Man a back and forth game, tough loss, so many different momentum swings in that game, probably have to watch the film two or three times to kind of go through the ebbs and flows that it had, credit San Francisco they made the plays when they needed to,” said Saints coach Sean Payton.
The Saints took a one-point lead with 53 seconds left when Drew Brees connected with Tre’Quan Smith on an 18-yard touchdown pass. But the 49ers won it on a 30-yard field goal by Robbie Gould with no time left. George Kittle’s 39-yard reception on fourth and two was the big play.
Brees threw five touchdown passes. Wide receiver Michael Thomas broke his own franchise record for receiving yards in a season. Thomas now has 1.424 yards on 121 catches and seven touchdowns.
The loss drops the Saints record to 10-3, while the 49ers improved to 11-2 and with three regular season games left, San Fran is in position to earn homefield advantage through the NFC playoffs.
Payton’s postgame press conference lasted three minutes and ended this way.
“I don’t feel encouraged, I feel frustrated because we had opportunities offensively to take advantage of field position, we had a number of opportunities, we had missed assignments, so I’m not encouraged that way.”
Up next for the Saints is a Monday night matchup with the Indianapolis Colts.
