It snowed on the Saints’ parade Sunday. And after what the Bears did to New Orleans at Soldier Field, maybe this city will be awarded Mardi Gras in addition to the NFC championship trophy.
The Bears turned the notion of a Sean Payton homecoming into one long ordeal with a 39-14 victory that probably convinces the Saints coach he should never again mention when he is returning to his area roots.
There was little mystery about how the Bears took apart the Saints. Payton, the first-year coach who played high school ball for Naperville Central, college ball for Eastern Illinois and a teeny bit of pro ball for the strike-replacement Bears, needs to break open a thesaurus to check out all the synonyms for “mistake.”
Regrets? The Saints had more than a few. Quarterback Drew Brees threw one interception, was sacked three times and was flagged for intentional grounding in the end zone to give the Bears a safety. The Saints lost three fumbles and committed seven penalties.
“We shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times,” Saints receiver Devery Henderson said. “In games like this you can’t have that.”
Penalties, turnovers, poor field position and failure to capitalize set the Saints back.
“It was a little bit of everything,” defensive end Will Smith said. “The biggest thing was the turnovers. We didn’t get any on defense.”
Payton, whose mantra seemed to be “give them credit” anytime it was suggested that the Saints had made any errors, said, “Obviously, there are mistakes you don’t want to make.”
Payton is a Chicago guy, but he helped shape the Saints into a true hometown team for a city devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The city’s neighborhoods have been slow to rebuild, and about half the population has not returned.
Over and over it was repeated that the 3-13 team that was dispossessed of the Superdome home last season had given fans something special to cheer this season.
The unlikely run was as much a theme after the defeat as the mistakes that marred it.
“This hurt we have now will go away,” Payton said. “There’s a lot of pain and a lot of things that are disappointing for a lot of people [in New Orleans] that aren’t going to go away right away.”
Payton was both proud and melancholy as he digested an oft-repeated aphorism: You can’t go home again. Thomas Wolfe wrote it, and the Bears punctuated it.
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lfreedman@tribune.com
