Instead of your garden variety linear progression, this New Orleans Saints' season has come round in a giant circle, back where it all began.
Way back in balmy September, the Saints opened with a 29-19 Monday night loss against the Minnesota Vikings. New Orleans looked completely outclassed on the road against a team that figured to be one of the top contenders in the National Football Conference. It was like the Vikings had paddled across the Atlantic to kick the Acadians from Nova Scotia to the French Quarter (before I get any angry emails from history buffs, it was the English who kicked out the Acadians).