Twenty years. That is how long it took. For two decades, the New Orleans Saints were the punchline of every bad joke in the NFL, the "Aints" who wore paper bags over their heads because the product on the field was too embarrassing to watch without a disguise. But then came the 1987 New Orleans Saints. This wasn't just a football team; it was a collective exhale for a city that had forgotten what winning felt like. If you weren't there, it’s hard to describe the specific brand of desperation that hung over Tulane Stadium and then the Superdome. By the time 1987 rolled around, the franchise had never—not once—finished a season with a winning record.
People forget how weird that season was. The 1987 New Orleans Saints had to navigate a players' strike, a roster of "replacement" players who were essentially scabs, and the looming shadow of a powerhouse San Francisco 49ers team. Yet, they finished 12-3. They didn't just stumble into a winning record; they kicked the door down.
The Mora Revolution and the Dome Patrol
Jim Mora was the spark. Before he became a meme for his "Playoffs?!" rant later in his career with the Colts, he was a hard-nosed disciplinarian who brought a USFL winning pedigree to the Big Easy. He hated losing more than he liked winning. Mora, alongside General Manager Jim Finks, started drafting with a specific vision: defense.
You can't talk about the 1987 New Orleans Saints without talking about the "Dome Patrol." Honestly, it’s arguably the greatest linebacker corps in the history of professional football. Rickey Jackson. Sam Mills. Vaughan Johnson. Pat Swilling. Look at those names. They were fast, they were mean, and they hit like runaway freight trains. In '87, this unit was just starting to reach its terrifying peak.
Rickey Jackson was the anchor, a Hall of Famer who could rush the passer or drop into coverage with equal efficiency. But Sam Mills? "The Field Mouse." He was 5'9" on a good day, but he played like he was 6'5". He was the brain of that defense. Mora had coached him in the USFL with the Philadelphia Stars and knew the league was wrong about his size. Mills proved it every Sunday.
That Bizarre Strike and the Replacement Games
The 1987 season is forever asterisked in the record books because of the NFLPA strike. For three weeks, the stars stayed home, and the "replacement players" took the field. Most fans hated it. It felt like watching high-end semi-pro ball.
The 1987 New Orleans Saints handled this chaos better than almost anyone. While other teams crumbled or saw locker room divisions that lasted for years, the Saints' replacements went 2-1. They beat the Los Angeles Rams and the Chicago Bears. That middle-of-the-season grit kept the momentum alive for when the regulars returned. When the real roster came back, they were 3-2 and ready to make a statement.
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The Streak: Nine Games of Pure Magic
After a loss to the 49ers in late October, something clicked. The Saints didn't lose again for the rest of the regular season. Nine straight wins.
Think about that. A franchise that had literally never had a winning season suddenly couldn't stop winning. They beat the Cardinals. They crushed the Giants. They went into Three Rivers Stadium and handled the Steelers. The city went nuts. This wasn't just sports; it was a cultural shift. The paper bags disappeared. People were actually proud to wear black and gold on Canal Street.
Bobby Hebert, the "Cajun Cannon," wasn't the most prolific quarterback in the league, but he was exactly what New Orleans needed. He was local. He was tough. He threw for 2,119 yards and 15 touchdowns in a shortened season, managing games while Rueben Mayes and Dalton Hilliard ground out yards on the turf. Mayes was a beast that year, coming off his Rookie of the Year campaign, finding holes behind an offensive line that finally learned how to pass protect.
A Defense That Defined an Era
The 1987 New Orleans Saints defense allowed only 263 points all season. That was fourth in the league. They were the reason the Saints stayed in games. In a Week 11 clash against the Browns, the defense was suffocating. They forced turnovers, they sacked the quarterback, and they gave the offense short fields.
Mora’s scheme was simple: beat the man in front of you. There wasn't a lot of "finesse." It was blue-collar football in a city known for its jazz and leisure. The irony wasn't lost on anyone.
The December 6th Milestone
If you ask any old-school Saints fan about the most important date in franchise history (pre-Super Bowl XLIV), they’ll tell you December 6, 1987. The Saints played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It wasn't a "classic" game in the sense of high-scoring drama. The Saints won 44-34.
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But with that win, the Saints moved to 9-3. For the first time in 21 years of existence, the New Orleans Saints were guaranteed a winning season.
The locker room after that game was a scene of pure catharsis. Jim Finks, usually a stoic executive, was seen beaming. The fans in the Superdome stayed for nearly an hour after the whistle just to soak it in. They had finally arrived.
Why the Playoffs Ended in Heartbreak
Despite the 12-3 record, the 1987 New Orleans Saints didn't win their division. The San Francisco 49ers went 13-2 and took the NFC West. This meant the Saints had to host a Wild Card game against the Minnesota Vikings.
The hype was unsustainable. The city was vibrating. But the game itself? It was a disaster.
The Vikings came into the Dome and absolutely dismantled the Saints, 44-10. Anthony Carter had a career day, and the Saints' offense looked like they had forgotten how to play football. Hebert threw three interceptions. The dream of a Super Bowl run ended as quickly as a summer thunderstorm in the bayou.
It hurt. It hurt bad. But in hindsight, that loss didn't take away what the regular season accomplished. It proved that the Saints were no longer a joke. It laid the foundation for the winning culture that would sporadically pop up in the early 90s and eventually lead to the Sean Payton/Drew Brees era.
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The Real Legacy of the 1987 Team
We talk about the "culture" in sports all the time. It’s a buzzword. But the 1987 New Orleans Saints actually changed the DNA of their organization. They stopped accepting losing.
- The Dome Patrol's dominance: All four starting linebackers from that era eventually made a Pro Bowl together in 1992, a feat that still hasn't been replicated.
- Jim Mora's consistency: He finished his Saints career with a 93-74 record. Compare that to the coaches who came before him. It’s night and day.
- The Fans: 1987 was the year the "Who Dat" chant truly solidified as a rallying cry rather than a hopeful plea.
It is also worth noting the limitations of that era. The lack of a true, elite wide receiver threat often forced the Saints into one-dimensional play calling. Eric Martin was fantastic—one of the most underrated receivers in NFL history—but he couldn't do it alone. The team relied so heavily on its defense that when the defense had an "off" day, like against the Vikings in the playoffs, there was no Plan B.
Actionable Takeaways for Football Historians
If you are looking to truly understand the impact of the 1987 New Orleans Saints, don't just look at the box scores.
- Watch the film of the Dome Patrol. Look at the lateral speed of Sam Mills. In today's NFL, he would be the prototype for the modern inside linebacker, despite his height.
- Study the 1987 Strike's impact. The Saints' success during the replacement games is a masterclass in coaching depth and maintaining locker room morale during a crisis.
- Appreciate the Jim Finks era. Finks is in the Hall of Fame for a reason. He took a graveyard of a franchise and turned it into a perennial contender.
The 1987 New Orleans Saints taught a city how to win. They proved that even twenty years of failure can be washed away by one magical season. They weren't perfect, and they didn't win the big one, but they were the first ones to show New Orleans that the "Aints" were dead and buried. And for that, they will always be legends in the South.
To understand the modern Saints, you have to respect the 1987 squad. They were the ones who finally stopped the bleeding. If you're researching this era, look for the 1987 NFL Films year-in-review for the Saints. It captures the raw emotion of a fan base that finally had something to cheer for besides a draft pick. The 12-3 record remains one of the highest winning percentages in team history, and the defensive lessons from that year are still taught in coaching clinics today. Focus on the linebacker play; that is where the real football gold is buried.