The result was controversial, possibly even bogus. With the game tied and about 2 minutes left in regulation, Saints quarterback Drew Brees threw a pass near the sideline, inside the Rams' 5-yard line, intended for Tommy Lewis.
But Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman put a helmet-to-helmet hit on Lewis. By all rights, this should have been a dual penalty: Pass interference, meaning an automatic 1st down at the spot of the foul; and unnecessary roughness, an additional 15 yards, or, since the infraction was already inside the 15-yard line, half the distance to the goal line.
It should have been 1st and goal for the Saints on the 2-yard line. The Saints could have run down the clock and tried a field goal to win it 23-20. Or, they could have gone for the touchdown and made it 27-20, and made it that much harder for the Rams to send the game to overtime or win it in regulation.
Instead, no penalty was called. It was 4th down on the 17, and Saints coach Sean Payton sent Wil Lutz in to kick a 31-yard field goal. He made it. (Had he missed it, let's just say he would have been let off far easier than Cody Parkey of the Chicago Bears was for missing a game-winning field goal against the Philadelphia Eagles 2 weeks earlier.)
But there was 1:41 left on the clock, and the Rams marched down the field, and Greg Zuerlein kicked a 48-yarder to send the game to overtime. But there was 1:41 left on the clock, and the Rams marched down the field, and Greg Zuerlein kicked a 48-yarder to send the game to overtime. "Greg the Leg" then won it with a 57-yard field goal in overtime.
After the game, Robey-Coleman admitted his foul: "Came to the sideline, looked at the football gods, and was like, 'Thank you.' I got away with one tonight." He got away with it because, according to NFL rules, potential pass interference plays are not reviewable.
Saints fans -- essentially, the State of Louisiana, with some spillover into the Gulf Coast parts of Mississippi and Alabama -- are emotional people. People of deep feeling. Passionate people. They celebrate victories hard, and they take defeats hard.
If Robey-Coleman hadn't gotten to Lewis, and Lewis had dropped the pass, like Alshon Jeffery of the Eagles did the weekend before, leading to the interception that led to the Saints' advancement to this game, it would be different. But the Saints didn't blow it. They got robbed.
Or... did they?
Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame the Officials for the New Orleans Saints Losing the 2018 NFC Championship Game
5. The Replay Rule. Plays on which pass interference is alleged are not reviewable. You can argue that this rule is unfair, even stupid, and should be changed. But unless and until it is, it is on the books, and should be followed.
4. Overtime. In college football, and in most States' high school games, the overtime rule is as follows: Each team starts with the ball at the other team's 25-yard line, gets 4 downs to advance, and tries to score; if it's still tied after 2 overtimes, then you can't try to kick an extra point, you have to try for a 2-point conversion.
That's not how it works in the NFL: It was sudden death, until a few years ago. The rule was changed so that if the team that won the coin toss just marched down the field, got within field goal range, and kicked it, it wouldn't be enough: The other team got a chance. But if the team that won the coin toss just marched down the field and scored a touchdown, that would not be considered a cheap ending, and the game would be over in that team's favor.
Again: Fair or not, the rule is the rule. The Rams did what they had to do. The Saints did not. And the reason for that is...
3. The Saints' Defense. Before this game, the Saints had played 17 times, including the NFC Divisional Playoff with the Eagles. In their opener, they lost a 48-40 shootout with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In Week 3, they went to overtime with their arch-rivals, the Atlanta Falcons, and won 43-37.
From that point onward, only 3 times more once did they allow more than 23 points. And their Playoff win over the Eagles was not one of them: They won it 20-14. Two of these times were in their last 2 games, when they already had the NFC South Division wrapped up: A 31-28 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, and a 33-14 loss to the Carolina Panthers, a virtually meaningless game -- the term used in English soccer is "a dead rubber."
But the one other time was in Week 9, against the Rams. The Saints still won, 45-35. But it should have been a red flag.
2. The Saints' Offense. Drew Brees is one of the most prolific passers that American football has ever known. And the Saints had a great offense for most of the year. They hung 51 points on Cincinnati, 48 on Philadelphia in a regular-season game, 45 on the Rams in the aforementioned regular-season game, 43 on Atlanta and Washington, 40 on Tampa Bay (in a loss), 33 on the Giants, and 30 on Minnesota.
But all that was through Week 12. From that point on, the Saints were surprisingly punchless, losing 13-10 to Dallas, beating Tampa Bay 28-14, beating Carolina 12-9, beating Pittsburgh 31-28, and losing 33-14 to Carolina. And, as I said, their Playoff win over Philadelphia was just 20-14, and they might well have lost if Jeffery had hung onto that pass. In which case, we'd hear grumbling in a Philly accent instead of a N'Awlins accent.
And suppose the officials had properly flagged Robey-Coleman for interference. There's no guarantee that the Saints would have gone on to score a touchdown. They still might have gotten only 3 points out of it. And even if they had scored a touchdown, given that there would have been about a minute and a half left, there's no guarantee that the Rams wouldn't have scored a touchdown anyway. The Saints might still have lost the game.
The point is, given the points the Saints were allowing, and the points they weren't scoring, maybe their fans have no one to blame but their own team. Indeed, this was only the 3rd NFC Championship Game in the Saints' 52-season history. They've only won 1. The Saints reaching the Super Bowl is the rule, with just the 1 exception.
1. The Rams Were Better. Traditionally -- or maybe it's a cliche -- home-field advantage in American football is supposed to be 3 points. So the fact that the Rams sent the game to overtime at all should have been a sign that the Rams were better.
VERDICT: Not Guilty. Yes, the officials should have flagged Robey-Coleman for interference. But that's not why the Saints lost the game. They lost it because the Rams won it.