The New Orleans Saints hit rock bottom last week when they lost to the worst team in the NFL. The Carolina Panthers. The Saints steamrolled the Panthers in week one of the 2024 season putting up 40 points on a bad Carolina defense. It seems so long ago when the Saints started the season off 2-0 and had back to back games where Derek Carr and company lit up the scoreboard with 40 or more points. The Saints by far had the best offense in the league till that point. The season suddenly took a turn for the worst as the Saints now have lost seven straight games. The Panthers loss was the last straw for Saints ownership as they fired their head coach Dennis Allen after 9 games. The Saints have promoted their special teams coach, Darren Rizzi, who will be the interim coach for the final 8 games of the season. If the newly elected President of the United States, Donald Trump, can be convicted of a felony, why can’t the Saints hire Jon Gruden who was forced out of the NFL for his insensitive private emails?

Jon Gruden is only 61 years of age and still has some years left in him to be a head coach in the NFL. The last time we saw Gruden was back in 2021 when he was in his second stint with the Raiders. He was in his 4th year of a ten year contract at the time & the Raiders had to use to pry Chucky out of his ESPN gig. The Raiders were 3-2 when Gruden stepped away when an investigation uncovered all the racists, anti gay, and misogynistic emails back from his Washington days when he was just assistant coach. In 2018 the return of Chucky to Raider Nation, the team went 4-12 as he inherited a losing program prior to signing the big deal to come back and coach in the NFL. The Raiders had salary cap issues. Gruden traded away many of his hefty priced defensive players like Khalil Mack for draft capital. Mack was a star with the Raiders as he went to Chicago. The Raiders improved to 7-9 in 2019. In 2020 Gruden had the Raiders at 8-8 for the year as the team was showing some promise and future potential. Gruden’s first head coaching job of his career started with the Raiders in 1998. In 2002 he had that Raiders team in the AFC divisional round on the road in New England.

Everyone knows what happened on January 19, 2002 when Raiders defensive back Charlie Woodson forced a fumble on Tom Brady in the snow. The ball was recovered by the Raiders. The Raiders could have won this game after forcing the turn over that was over turned and became known as the “TUCK RULE.” Somehow it was ruled incomplete pass. The new rule that favored Brady was officially implemented the following year. If the QB’s arm is moving forward, it’s an incomplete pass. I think the jury is still out on that famous play in the middle of a New England snow storm that year in 2002. The Patriots would hold on to the football. Then ice the game by scoring points from that lucky opportunity into points. This rule could have put a kink in the Patriots dynasty if they lost that game. It certainly changed the Raiders football landscape. If the Raiders pulled that game off on the road in New England, they may have won the next game which was the AFC Championship. They had a solid team. Would Gruden have been traded to Tampa Bay the next season if the Raiders won that game in New England? Gruden’s old team the Raiders would make it to the Superbowl without him as they had a solid QB with Rich Gannon. This was the team Gruden built. The Raiders had Jerry Rice and Tim Brown as Gannon’s two main weapons that year and the silver and black had the top offense in the league.

Gruden’s new team, the Buccaneers, was not a bad team either. Gruden basically took Tony Dungy’s old team and got them to the Superbowl to meet his old team, the Raiders. Tony was not able to get that team that far. Dungy would have his day in the sun with the Colts winning a Superbowl with Peyton Manning as his QB. Gruden would get revenge against his old team as he knew the Raiders inside and out and had the advantage. The Buccaneers destroyed the Raiders in that Superbowl. Gruden would eventually wearout his welcome in Tampa. Then Gruden stepped away from coaching to be a bright spot for ESPN for his NFL knowledge doing the games and drafts.

In the past the New Orleans Saints have made a big splash at the head coaching position from a former Superbowl winning coach. Back in 1997 the Saints took a chance on former Bears legend head coach Mike Ditka.

Iron Mike Ditka did not do well in New Orleans after a 5 year hiatus away from the side lines. The Saints should have never traded all their draft capital for running back Ricky Williams in 1999. The move doomed Da Coach and the Saints as Ricky would never pan out wearing a New Orleans uniform. Bringing back Chucky is a higher ceiling type of move than relying on Ditka back in the day. Jon Gruden has worked well with quarterbacks like Brad Johnson and Rich Gannon. Veteran QB’s that got new life under Chucky’s guidance. In the second stint with the Raiders he worked with Derek Carr and they have a special bond of quarterback and head coach. Carr needs new life pumped into his career as he’s beginning to look like a back up QB instead of a starter. Gruden in 2023 worked as a consultant with Dennis Allen’s staff to put together an offense that was fitted around the talents of Carr. Because of the ties they had together with the silver and black. Most people in professional sports or in life in general want to stick it to someone that did you wrong. The Saints play the Buccaneers twice a year in the NFC South which could interest Gruden enough to come to the Big Easy. The cost to bring Gruden back into the NFL would not be that crazy amount like that 10 year deal the Raiders locked ole Chucky up in his second stint. The Saints general manager Micky Loomis is one of the best in the league and should work well with Gruden to figure out what he needs and get it done. Obviously it all comes down to the NFL and their say on any situation involving Gruden. Gruden has been bringing the heat to the NFL and the Commissioner Roger Goodell about the leaked emails in a lawsuit. How come no one else was thrown under the bus on this investigation of the Washington franchise? Maybe something could be worked out there. Maybe Darren Rizzi will show the Saints something that he’s the guy for the job in the future. Something about Gruden in the Big Easy leading the Saints has some teeth to make some big headlines. To finally find the Sean Payton replacement.

The Saints need to get out of that salary cap hell before they actually get a team that can make it back to the playoffs. Gruden makes those tough decisions. Look at the Raiders when he took the heat from trading Khalil Mack. The Bears went to the playoffs in 2018 and quickly lost to the Eagles. Mack did not get any playoff victories in Chicago nor has he helped the Chargers get to the playoffs since he was traded to LA. I don’t think it will ever happen as this is more of a pipe dream than a reality for Gruden to even come back into the NFL. The black and gold Chucky voodoo dolls would be something to see down in the Big Easy. If Donald Trump can have the biggest job in our country and be a felon, why can’t Chucky get back into coaching in the NFL? The Saints should be the first franchise to give him a call. Trump has said a lot worse things than Gruden probably wrote on his computer and sent to his own circle of friends in private. If that is the case these days in life, well Gruden should be able to work again.