Saints Clinch 2020 NFL Playoff Berth with Win vs. Falcons

The New Orleans Saints are going to the playoffs for the fourth season in a row.  

New Orleans clinched a spot in the postseason with a 21-16 win over the Atlanta Falcons and the Chicago Bears 34-30 loss vs. the Detroit Lions. It also won the NFC South in each of the last three seasons and is living up to elevated expectations this year at 10-2.

While the Saints are going to the playoffs, it hasn't been the easiest route.

Their division became all the more formidable before the season even started when Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and Leonard Fournette joined a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team that already had Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Antonio Brown also joined Tampa Bay during the season.

That seemed to set the stage for a changing of the guard in the NFC South, but New Orleans set the tone with a head-to-head win in Week 1 and a dominant 35-point win in Week 9 to complete the season sweep and clinch the tiebreaker.

From a player perspective, star wide receiver Michael Thomas has played just six games because of injuries and disciplinary reasons.

He was fined and missed a win over the Los Angeles Chargers following a practice altercation in addition to the weeks he missed with an ankle injury. Few teams could withstand the loss of arguably the best wide receiver in the league, but the Saints relied even more on players such as Alvin Kamara, Emmanuel Sanders and Tre'Quan Smith.

Thomas wasn't the only notable setback, as future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees suffered 11 rib fractures and a collapsed lung.

Taysom Hill stepped in as the starting quarterback and led New Orleans to a 24-9 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in Week 11 and three straight wins in total.

The question now becomes whether the Saints can do what they haven't done of late and parlay regular-season success and talent into a Super Bowl title. While Brees and head coach Sean Payton were around during the 2009 campaign when they won the Super Bowl, the rest of the core wasn't.

New Orleans lost in the NFC Divisional Round to end its 2017 season when the Minnesota Vikings completed a miraculous pass to Stefon Diggs on the final play, lost in the NFC Championship Game to end its 2018 season when the Los Angeles Rams benefited from a questionable pass interference no-call and lost in the NFC Wild Card Round to the Vikings last season.

It will have a chance to erase recent history as it competes for the Lombardi Trophy once again this season.