How Long Have The Saints Been In The NFL?

The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Saints currently compete in the National Football League

History of the Saints

The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Saints currently compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league’s National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Saints were established in 1967 as an expansion team and first took the field in 1968.

The Early Years

In 1967, the NFL expanded from twelve to fourteen teams with the addition of the New Orleans Saints and the Houston Oilers. The Saints were placed in the newly created NFC West division. The team’s name, “Saints,” was selected by owner John W. Mecom Jr., and is a reference to November 1 being All Saints Day in the Catholic faith.

In their inaugural season, the Saints posted a 3-11 record. Head coach Tom Fears originally signed former Green Bay Packersrunning back Jim Taylor as a free agent, but then traded him to the New York Giants for All-Pro linebacker Wally Hilgenberg and center Whitman Brown shortly before the beginning of the season. New Orleans traded its first-round draft choice in 1968 to Cleveland in order to select Heisman Trophy winning running back Gary Beban with Cleveland’s first pick in the 1967 supplemental draft of college seniors; Beban was named NFL Rookie of the Year after rushing for 965 yards and six touchdowns and also catching 27 passes for 279 yards.

The Aints Era

The Aints era is a term used by some fans of the New Orleans Saints to describe the period from 1967 to 1982, when the team posted seventeen consecutive losing seasons. The team did not have a winning record or make the playoffs during this time. The term is a play on words, as “Aint” is southern slang for “ain’t”.

The Return to prominence

The Saints began the 2006 season strong, starting out 5–1. They continued their winning ways by clinching the NFC South division title on December 3 with a 23–3 Monday night win over the Atlanta Falcons. The Saints then closed out their regular season with five consecutive wins to finish with an 11–5 record, their first winning season and division championship since 2002. The Saints defeated the Philadelphia Eagles in the Wild Card round of the playoffs 27–24 in overtime on a 39-yard touchdown reception by Garrett Hartley, becoming the first team in NFL history to win a playoff game in overtime after losing the overtime coin toss. The next week, they were upset by the Chicago Bears in the NFC Divisional Playoff game 39–14.

The Saints Today

The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Saints currently compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league’s National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since their inception in 1967, the Saints have played their home games at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

The Team

The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Saints currently compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league’s National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The team was founded by John W. Mecom Jr., David Dixon, and the city of New Orleans on November 1, 1966. The Saints began play in Tulane Stadium in 1967.

The name “Saints” is an allusion to November 1 being All Saints Day in the Catholic faith, as New Orleans was historically a predominantly Catholic city. The franchise was founded on November 1, 1966. The team’s primary colors are old gold and black; their logo is a simplified fleur-de-lis (which is French for “flower of the lily”). They played their home games in Tulane Stadium through the 1974 NFL season. The following year, they began playing their home games in the new Louisiana Superdome (now named the Mercedes-Benz Superdome), which quickly became nicknamed “The Big Easy”.

In 2006, the Saints won their first NFL Championship when they defeated the defending Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts 31–17 on February 7, 2010 at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. They repeated as NFL Champions again when they defeated the Minnesota Vikings 31–28 on February 3, 2013 at Mercedez-Benz Superdome for their second Lombardi Trophy.

The Fans

The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Saints currently compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league’s National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The team was founded by John W. Mecom, Jr., David Dixon, and the city of New Orleans on November 1, 1966. The Saints began play in Tulane Stadium in 1967.

The name “Saints” is an allusion to November 1 being All Saints Day in the Catholic faith, as New Orleans has a large Catholic population. For this reason the team members were known as the “Aints” for much of their history; however, before adopting their current name prior to the 1987 season, they played under names such as the ‘Pels and selected “No Name Defense”. The team’s primary colors are old gold and black; their logo was designed by Baltus Communications. They played their home games in Tulane Stadium through 1974, when they moved to the new Louisiana Superdome (nowMercedes-Benz Superdome).

The franchise was founded on November 1, 1966.[1][2] The team’s primary colors are old gold and black,[3] their logo was designed byBaltus Communications,[4] and they played their home games in Tulane Stadium through 1974.[5] They moved to the new Louisiana Superdome (now Mercedes-Benz Superdome)in 1975.[6][7]

The franchise was founded by John W. Mecom Jr., David Dixon, and then-governor of Louisiana John McKeithen.[8][9] The NFL had announced on August 3 that it would expand from 26 to 28 teams with churches across America participating in a contest to name the two new teams— with one awarded to Atlanta and one to New Orleans.[10] The Birmingham Americans were also awarded an expansion franchise but pulled out citing financial concerns ten days before the scheduled August 5 start of preseason training camp.[11][12] Upon acquiring an American Football League (AFL) expansion franchise for $8 million from owner Wellington Mara on May 9,[13][14] New Orleans saints owner John W. Mecom Jr., announced his decision eleven days later on May 20 to support merging his AFL club with the NFL at their scheduled June 8 meeting citing survival of his franchise as his reasoning behind supporting Christian’s proposal instead of blocking it like other AFL owners such as Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt had done during previous meetings.[15][16][17]

The Stadium

The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league’s National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The team was founded by John W. Mecom Jr., David Dixon, and the city of New Orleans on November 1, 1966. The Saints began play as an expansion team in 1967.