# 1991 New Orleans Saints season

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.
The 1991 Saints had 48 defensive takeaways, tied for the most for any team in a single season in the 1990s. 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. 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.

## Offseason
### NFL Draft

1991 New Orleans Saints draft :
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | College |
| 2 | 42 | Wesley Carroll | Wide receiver | Miami (FL) |
| 5 | 126 | Reggie Jones | Cornerback | Memphis |
| 6 | 154 | Fred McAfee | Running back | Mississippi College |
| 7 | 182 | Hayward Haynes | Guard | Florida State |
| 8 | 210 | Frank Wainright | Tight end | Northern Colorado |
| 9 | 237 | Anthony Wallace | Running back | California |
| 11 | 293 | Scott Ross | Linebacker | USC |
| 12 | 321 | Mark Drabczak | Guard | Minnesota |
| Made roster ||||||

## Preseason

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance |
| 1 | August 3 | Minnesota Vikings | W 18–3 | 1–0 | Louisiana Superdome | 58,593 |
| 2 | August 10 | Green Bay Packers | W 31–20 | 2–0 | Louisiana Superdome | 55,730 |
| 3 | August 17 | at Indianapolis Colts | L 28–34 | 2–1 | Hoosier Dome | 45,963 |
| 4 | August 24 | at Miami Dolphins | L 24–28 | 2–2 | Joe Robbie Stadium | 44,099 |

## Regular season
### Schedule

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance |
| 1 | September 1 | Seattle Seahawks | W 27–24 | 1–0 | Louisiana Superdome | 68,492 |
| 2 | September 8 | at Kansas City Chiefs | W 17–10 | 2–0 | Arrowhead Stadium | 74,816 |
| 3 | September 15 | Los Angeles Rams | W 24–7 | 3–0 | Louisiana Superdome | 68,583 |
| 4 | September 22 | Minnesota Vikings | W 26–0 | 4–0 | Louisiana Superdome | 68,591 |
| 5 | September 29 | at Atlanta Falcons | W 27–6 | 5–0 | Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium | 56,556 |
| 6 | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye |
| 7 | October 13 | at Philadelphia Eagles | W 13–6 | 6–0 | Veterans Stadium | 64,224 |
| 8 | October 20 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | W 23–7 | 7–0 | Louisiana Superdome | 68,591 |
| 9 | October 27 | Chicago Bears | L 17–20 | 7–1 | Louisiana Superdome | 68,591 |
| 10 | November 3 | at Los Angeles Rams | W 24–17 | 8–1 | Anaheim Stadium | 58,713 |
| 11 | November 10 | San Francisco 49ers | W 10–3 | 9–1 | Louisiana Superdome | 68,591 |
| 12 | November 17 | at San Diego Chargers | L 21–24 | 9–2 | Jack Murphy Stadium | 48,420 |
| 13 | November 24 | Atlanta Falcons | L 20–23 (OT) | 9–3 | Louisiana Superdome | 68,591 |
| 14 | December 1 | at San Francisco 49ers | L 24–38 | 9–4 | Candlestick Park | 62,092 |
| 15 | December 8 | at Dallas Cowboys | L 14–23 | 9–5 | Texas Stadium | 64,530 |
| 16 | December 16 | Los Angeles Raiders | W 27–0 | 10–5 | Louisiana Superdome | 68,625 |
| 17 | December 22 | at Phoenix Cardinals | W 27–3 | 11–5 | Sun Devil Stadium | 30,928 |
| Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text. |||||||

### Playoffs

| Round | Date | Opponent (seed) | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance |
| Wildcard | December 28 | Atlanta Falcons (6) | L 20–27 | 0–1 | Louisiana Superdome | 68,794 |

### Standings

NFC West :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | DIV | CONF | PF | PA | STK |
| $^{(3)}$ New Orleans Saints | 11 | 5 | 0 | .688 | 4–2 | 8–4 | 341 | 211 | W2 |
| $^{(6)}$ Atlanta Falcons | 10 | 6 | 0 | .625 | 5–1 | 7–5 | 361 | 338 | L1 |
| San Francisco 49ers | 10 | 6 | 0 | .625 | 3–3 | 7–5 | 393 | 239 | W6 |
| Los Angeles Rams | 3 | 13 | 0 | .188 | 0–6 | 2–10 | 234 | 390 | L10 |

## Regular season
### Week 3

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Rams | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| Saints | 7 | 0 | 7 | 10 | 24 |
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

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Falcons | 0 | 10 | 7 | 10 | 27 |
| Saints | 7 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 20 |
at Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana
* Game time: 4:00 p.m. EST/3:00 p.m. CST
* Game weather: Played indoors, domed stadium
* Game attendance: 68,794
* Referee: Howard Roe
* TV announcers (ABC): Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, and Dan Dierdorf
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

* Pat Swilling, NFL Defensive Player of the Year
* Led NFL, Fewest Points Allowed, 211 points