1990 New Orleans Saints season

1990 New Orleans Saints season
Head coach	Jim Mora
General manager	Jim Finks
Owner	Tom Benson
Home field	Louisiana Superdome
Results
Record	8–8
Division place	2nd NFC West
Playoff finish	Lost NFC Wild Card
Timeline
Previous season      Next season < 1989      1991 >

The 1990 New Orleans Saints season was the team's 24th in the National Football League.

The Saints, with a record of eight wins and eight losses, became the 5th team in NFL history at or below .500 to qualify for postseason play.

In 2004, Football Outsiders' Mike Tanier named the 1990 Saints as one of the "worst playoff teams ever":

The NFL added a third Wild Card team per division in 1990; the league seems to celebrate these additions by inviting a truly undeserving team to the party in the first year. [...] The Niners and Giants were clearly the best teams in the conference. The Eagles, Redskins, and Bears were also good. Everyone else would have packed their bags at Halloween if it weren't for the additional postseason bid.

With two weeks to play, that final bid apparently belonged to the Cowboys. Jimmy Johnson's boys were 7-7 with two games to play and were on a three-game winning streak. The Saints were 6-8 and were about to play the Niners. Four teams from the NFC East? Why not: the other divisions were lousy.

As fate would have it, the Saints would beat a Niners team with little to play for, while the Cowboys would lose to the Eagles and Falcons in the final weeks. So instead of seeing the playoff debuts of Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith, the 1990 Wild Card game gave us (drum roll please:) Steve Walsh, John Fourcade, and Ironhead Heyward. The Bears made short work of the Saints in the playoffs, intercepting Walsh and Fourcade three times in a 16-6 win.

That Saints team featured one of the great linebacking corps of history: Sam Mills, Rickey Jackson, Pat Swilling, and Vaughn Johnson [sic]. They had some winning seasons and playoff appearances ahead of them. But they would never win a playoff game, and they'll best be remembered for keeping the real rising powerhouse of the NFC out of the postseason for a year.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	School
1	14	Renaldo Turnbull	DE	West Virginia
2	44	Vince Buck	DB	Central State
3	71	Joel Smeenge	DE	Western Michigan
4	98	DeMond Winston	LB	Vanderbilt
5	125	Charles Arbuckle	TE	UCLA
6	156	Mike Buck	QB	Maine
6	158	James Williams	LB	Mississippi State
7	183	Scott Hough	G	Maine
8	207	Gerry Gdowski	QB	Nebraska
8	210	Derrick Carr	DE	Bowling Green
9	233	Broderick Graves	RB	Winston-Salem State
9	236	Lonnie Brockman	LB	West Virginia
10	260	Gary Cooper	WR	Clemson
10	267	Ernest Spears	DB	USC
11	287	Webbie Burnett	DT	Western Kentucky
12	320	Chris Port	G	Duke

Personnel

Staff

1990 New Orleans Saints staff
	Front Office Owner/General Partner – Tom Benson President/General Manager – Jim Finks Director of Player Personnel – Bill Kuharich Head Coaches Head Coach – Jim Mora Offensive Coaches Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks – Carl Smith Running Backs – Jim Skipper Wide Receivers – Steve Walters Tight Ends – Joe Marciano Offensive Line – Paul Boudreau			Defensive Coaches Defensive Coordinator/Inside Linebackers – Steve Sidwell Defensive Line – John Pease Outside Linebackers – Vic Fangio Defensive Backs – Dom Capers Special Teams Coaches Special Teams – Joe Marciano Strength and Conditioning Strength and Conditioning – Russell Paternostro

Roster

1990 New Orleans Saints roster
	Quarterbacks 16 Mike Buck 11 John Fourcade  4 Steve Walsh Running Backs Wide Receivers Tight Ends		Offensive Linemen Defensive Linemen		Linebackers Defensive Backs Special Teams		Reserve Lists Practice Squad Rookies in italics Active, Inactive, Practice Squad

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	September 10, 1990	San Francisco 49ers	L 13-12	68,629
2	September 16, 1990	at Minnesota Vikings	L 32-3	56,272
3	September 23, 1990	Phoenix Cardinals	W 28-7	61,110
4	Bye
5	October 7, 1990	at Atlanta Falcons	L 28-27	57,401
6	October 14, 1990	Cleveland Browns	W 25-20	68,608
7	October 21, 1990	at Houston Oilers	L 23-10	57,908
8	October 28, 1990	Detroit Lions	L 27-10	64,368
9	November 4, 1990	at Cincinnati Bengals	W 21-7	60,067
10	November 11, 1990	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	W 35-7	67,865
11	November 18, 1990	at Washington Redskins	L 31-17	52,573
12	November 25, 1990	Atlanta Falcons	W 10-7	68,629
13	December 2, 1990	at Dallas Cowboys	L 17-13	60,087
14	December 9, 1990	at Los Angeles Rams	W 24-20	56,864
15	December 16, 1990	Pittsburgh Steelers	L 9-6	68,582
16	December 23, 1990	at San Francisco 49ers	W 13-10	60,112
17	December 31, 1990	Los Angeles Rams	W 20-17	68,647

Standings

NFC West
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
San Francisco 49ers	14	2	0	.875	4–2	10–2	353	239	W1
New Orleans Saints	8	8	0	.500	4–2	6–6	274	275	W2
Los Angeles Rams	5	11	0	.313	2–4	3–9	345	412	L4
Atlanta Falcons	5	11	0	.313	2–4	3–9	348	365	W2

Playoffs

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
Wildcard	January 6, 1991	at Chicago Bears	L 16-6	60,767

External links

• Saints on Pro Football Reference
• Saints on jt-sw.com