# 1969 New Orleans Saints season

The 1969 New Orleans Saints season was the team's third as a member of the National Football League. They improved on their previous season's output of 4–9–1, winning five games. The team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the third consecutive season. Tom Dempsey led the team in scoring 99 points and was named to the Pro Bowl.
The 1969 Saints surrendered 7.90 yards per-pass-attempt (including quarterback sacks), an NFL record at the time for the Super Bowl Era, and third all-time as of 2012.

## Offseason
### NFL draft

1969 New Orleans Saints draft :
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | College | Notes |
| 1 | 17 | John Shinners | Guard | Xavier | |
| Made roster ||||||

## Schedule

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance |
| 1 | September 21 | Washington Redskins | L 20–26 | 0–1 | Tulane Stadium | 73,147 |
| 2 | September 28 | Dallas Cowboys | L 17–21 | 0–2 | Tulane Stadium | 79,567 |
| 3 | October 5 | at Los Angeles Rams | L 17–36 | 0–3 | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | 54,879 |
| 4 | October 12 | Cleveland Browns | L 17–27 | 0–4 | Tulane Stadium | 71,274 |
| 5 | October 19 | Baltimore Colts | L 10–30 | 0–5 | Tulane Stadium | 80,636 |
| 6 | October 26 | at Philadelphia Eagles | L 10–13 | 0–6 | Franklin Field | 60,658 |
| 7 | November 2 | at St. Louis Cardinals | W 51–42 | 1–6 | Busch Memorial Stadium | 46,718 |
| 8 | November 9 | at Dallas Cowboys | L 17–33 | 1–7 | Cotton Bowl | 68,282 |
| 9 | November 16 | at New York Giants | W 25–24 | 2–7 | Yankee Stadium | 62,927 |
| 10 | November 23 | San Francisco 49ers | W 43–38 | 3–7 | Tulane Stadium | 71,448 |
| 11 | November 30 | Philadelphia Eagles | W 26–17 | 4–7 | Tulane Stadium | 72,805 |
| 12 | December 7 | at Atlanta Falcons | L 17–45 | 4–8 | Atlanta Stadium | 57,021 |
| 13 | December 14 | at Washington Redskins | L 14–17 | 4–9 | RFK Stadium | 50,354 |
| 14 | December 21 | Pittsburgh Steelers | W 27–24 | 5–9 | Tulane Stadium | 72,256 |
| Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text. |||||||

## Standings

NFL Capitol :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | DIV | CONF | PF | PA | STK |
| Dallas Cowboys | 11 | 2 | 1 | .846 | 6–0 | 9–1 | 369 | 223 | W3 |
| Washington Redskins | 7 | 5 | 2 | .583 | 3–2–1 | 6–3–1 | 307 | 319 | L1 |
| New Orleans Saints | 5 | 9 | 0 | .357 | 1–5 | 4–6 | 311 | 393 | W1 |
| Philadelphia Eagles | 4 | 9 | 1 | .308 | 1–4–1 | 4–5–1 | 279 | 377 | L4 |
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

## Season summary
### Week 10

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| 49ers | 7 | 14 | 7 | 10 | 38 |
| Saints | 0 | 7 | 21 | 15 | 43 |
at Tulane Stadium, New Orleans, Louisiana
* Date: November 23, 1969
* Game weather: 62 °F (17 °C)
* Game attendance: 71,448
* Pro-Football-Reference.com
Game information :
First quarter
SF – Ken Willard 1-yard run (Momcilo Gavric kick). 49ers 7–0. Drive:
Second quarter
SF – Dick Witcher 8-yard pass from Doug Cunningham (Momcilo Gavric kick). 49ers 14–0. Drive:
SF – Ken Willard 1-yard run (Momcilo Gavric kick). 49ers 21–0. Drive:
NO – Ray Poage 22-yard pass from Billy Kilmer (Tom Dempsey kick). 49ers 21–7. Drive:
Third quarter
NO – Andy Livingston 12-yard run (Tom Dempsey kick). 49ers 21–14. Drive:
NO – Danny Abramowicz 49-yard pass from Billy Kilmer (Tom Dempsey kick). Tie 21–21. Drive:
NO – Danny Abramowicz 13-yard pass from Andy Livingston (Tom Dempsey kick). Saints 28–21. Drive:
SF – Jimmy Thomas 45-yard pass from John Brodie (Momcilo Gavric kick). Tie 28–28. Drive:
Fourth quarter
NO – Safety, center snap out of end zone. Saints 30–28.
NO – Tom Dempsey 17-yard field goal. Saints 33–28. Drive:
SF – Jimmy Thomas 18-yard pass from John Brodie (Momcilo Gavric kick). 49ers 35–33. Drive:
NO – Tom Dempsey 43-yard field goal. Saints 36–35. Drive:
SF – Momcilo Gavric 23-yard field goal. 49ers 38–36. Drive:
NO – Ernie Wheelwright 3-yard run (Tom Dempsey kick). Saints 43–38. Drive:
Top passers
SF – John Brodie – 15/24, 290 yards, 2 TD, INT
NO – Billy Kilmer – 13/24, 235 yards, 2 TD
Top rushers
SF – Doug Cunningham – 14 rushes, 84 yards
NO – Andy Livingston – 14 rushes, 83 yards, TD
Top receivers
SF – Jimmy Thomas – 3 receptions, 106 yards, 2 TD
NO – Danny Abramowicz – 5 receptions, 113 yards, 2 TD :
NFL Films selected this matchup as the Game of the Week.