Dennis Allen survived a few seasons of mediocrity. He couldn’t survive a long losing streak that included dropping games to former Saints coach Sean Payton and a terrible Carolina Panthers team.
The New Orleans Saints resisted a coaching move after each of Allen’s first two seasons, even though it would have been justified both times. A seven-game losing streak ultimately ended Allen’s time as Saints head coach.
After their painful 23-22 loss to the Carolina Panthers in Week 9, the Saints reportedly fired Allen Monday morning.
The Saints started this season well with a 2-0 lead. But then things got ugly. The decline was a reminder of how far the Saints have fallen since Payton stepped down as head coach after the 2021 season. One of the losses in the losing streak was a 33-10 primetime blowout against Payton’s Denver Broncos in Week 7. Then in Week 9, the Saints fell to a Panthers team that had recorded just three wins since the league began of 2023. season. New Orleans gave up a game-winning drive to Bryce Young in the final minutes to take a late lead.
Allen’s third season as Saints coach started well enough. But then the losses started piling up and the Saints had to take action. In his two-plus seasons as head coach in New Orleans, Allen went 18-25 with no playoff appearances.
Dennis Allen didn’t make the playoffs
Allen has experienced layoffs before. He was 8-28 as head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 2012-2014. Allen got another chance to be a head coach with his good work as Payton’s defensive coordinator. When Payton resigned after the 2021 season, Allen was an obvious choice to take over.
Like most failed coaches, Allen’s biggest problem may have been an uncertain quarterback situation. The team entered 2022 hoping Jameis Winston would be the answer. Winston was injured early in the season and Andy Dalton was the quarterback for most of the season. New Orleans signed Derek Carr to a big deal in 2023, reuniting him with Allen from their Raiders days, but that didn’t work out well either. Carr had a disappointing season in 2023 and came to a standstill this season after a hot start, after which he missed three games due to an oblique injury. In the midst of a losing effort against the Carolina Panthers, Carr took the lead via social media from the former Saints wideout Michael Thomas.
There isn’t much patience left with head coaches in the NFL, and no one wants to hear about quarterback issues. Allen didn’t win enough.
Allen’s third season went sour
The loss that put Allen on alert came in Week 6. The Saints gave up 51 points to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (one touchdown came from the Tampa Bay defense) and 594 yards in an embarrassing 51-27 loss. The Saints started fifth-round rookie Spencer Rattler at quarterback in place of an injured Carr, but that didn’t excuse the defensive performance. Things looked bad for Allen, who has a defensive background. Things never got better after that.
The Saints job won’t be that attractive. The team is in the worst salary cap situation in the NFL. New Orleans is estimated to cost $77.4 million over the 2025 cap, nearly twice as much as any other team, according to Spotrac. The Saints will restructure deals to get under the cap, but that will push the cap hits into the future. And the Saints don’t have a young core, or a promising future franchise quarterback, to make up for it.
Allen found himself in a difficult situation. He replaced Payton, a legend in New Orleans. Payton left a year after future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees retired, and there was no proper plan for the quarterback’s succession. Allen had to be great to make the Saints a playoff team, and he wasn’t.
The Saints will be looking for their next Payton. It wasn’t Allen. And it won’t be easy to find a good replacement for him.
