The New Orleans Saints improved to 5-2 on the season with a hard-earned 20-12 victory over the Chicago Bears in week eight. For the second week in a row, New Orleans shut down the opposing quarterback while controlling the clock with their running game. The Saints scored a touchdown on their first possession of the game and led from that point on, but Chicago had a chance to force overtime on their last offensive drive. The Bears had the ball in Saints territory with 1:22 remaining, but an interception by rookie cornerback Marshon Lattimore sealed the victory.
After an 0-2 start to the season, the Saints have rebounded dramatically to become one the NFL’s hottest teams midway through the season. New Orleans has now won five straight games for the first time since 2013, and their win this week moved them into third place in the NFC. The Saints appear poised to make a playoff run after missing the postseason the last three years, but their performance on Sunday showed there are still weaknesses to address with nine regular season games remaining.
Week Eight New Orleans Saints Takeaways
Offensive Balance Continues
The story on offense continues to be the success of the Saints running backs. After combining for 162 rushing yards last week, running backs Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram ran for 103 yards and two touchdowns against the Bears. They also added 72 receiving yards as the Saints leaned heavily on their short passing game. This approach aided the efficiency of quarterback Drew Brees, who completed 82.1 percent of his passes for 299 yards.
The Saints managed to win without a Brees touchdown pass for the first time since their 24-10 victory over the New York Jets in 2009. He only has one game with more than two touchdown passes this season, but so far his lower than usual production hasn’t been a problem. No one will start complaining about Brees as long as he continues to play efficiently, and the Saints are getting along just fine with Ingram and Kamara doing the heavy lifting.
Run Defense: The Saints Biggest Weakness
There’s no doubt that New Orleans has improved defensively in 2017, but their overall success has overshadowed how vulnerable they are against the run. The Saints have allowed at least 100 rushing yards in all but two games this season, and 338 combined yards in the last two weeks. Bears running back Jordan Howard was contained for most of the game on Sunday, but in the third quarter he ran straight through the Saints defensive line for 50 yards.
This vulnerability has also been exposed by opposing quarterbacks. Rookie Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky picked up 53 yards on three scrambles, and Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Hundley ran for 44 yards and a touchdown last week. The Saints will get a break next week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are averaging just 80.5 rushing yards per game, but most of their remaining opponents have rushing attacks that rank in the top half of the league.
Passing Defense Stellar Yet Again
While the Saints will look to improve their run defense heading into the second half of the season, they continue to be phenomenal against the pass. Trubisky went 14 of 32 for 164 passing yards, and finished the game with a 46.9 passer rating. These types of numbers are becoming the norm for quarterbacks that face the Saints defense. 71.1 is the highest passer rating the Saints have allowed during their five-game win streak, and only one quarterback has thrown for more than 200 yards against them in that same span.
Neither Ken Crawley nor Lattimore were beaten in coverage many times on Sunday, and they each broke up two passes. Lattimore didn’t allow a reception for the second week in a row, and Trubisky only targeted Lattimore’s receiver twice according to Pro Football Focus. Working in unison with the great coverage was a furious Saints pass-rush that sacked Trubisky twice, and hit him on seven other attempts.
The Saints are now in great position to make the postseason as the current leader in the NFC South, and the top seed in the NFC isn’t far out of reach. Right now they sit 1.5 games behind the top-seeded Philadelphia Eagles, and just half a game behind the second-place Minnesota Vikings. The sky is the limit for this Saints team if they can clean up the turnovers on offense, and become more stout against the run on defense.
