The New Orleans Saints made the Atlanta Falcons work and the Carolina Panthers sweat Sunday.

Ultimately, their efforts weren’t enough to overcome a more talented and experienced Atlanta squad on its home field in a gritty 19-17 loss, but the Saints made sure the NFC South title was earned and not given.

I’m sure they hated the idea of helping their fierce division rivals, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in any way, especially gifting them another NFC South title, which is what would have happened had they upset Atlanta. Regardless, the Saints put up an admirable fight to the finish and made the Panthers wait until the game’s final seconds before celebrating their first division title in a decade.

While there are no moral victories in the NFL, it certainly felt like one for the Saints at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Because of injuries and attrition, they were undermanned and overmatched in terms of talent and personnel. The offense was reduced to rookie quarterback Tyler Shough, Juwan Johnson and a collection of castoffs and street free agents. And they even lost prized rookie left tackle Kelvin Banks to injury early in the game. And yet, they still managed to push the Falcons to the limit.

It wasn’t always pretty or perfect, but they played with intensity and enthusiasm for four quarters despite unfavorable odds and circumstances. The effort was evident, even if the execution wasn’t always there to match it.

“Screw it, let’s go play,” Shough said when asked about his mindset entering Sunday’s game without seven offensive starters. “Who cares what people are saying? This is why you play football. (It was) an unbelievable job of everybody stepping up. Credit to our guys for showing up and battling.”

Granted, these aren’t the Boy Scouts. No one awards participation trophies in the NFL. The players are paid handsomely to do their jobs. But the reality is, teams often pack it in once they are eliminated from playoff contention. See: Las Vegas, Tennessee and New York (Jets) as examples.

And it would have been easy for the Saints to follow suit. They could have easily folded their tents after falling to 2-10 in Week 13. Instead, they played their best football of the season down the stretch and finished the season with four wins in their final five games. That’s a credit to the culture established by the team’s leaders, head coach Kellen Moore and his staff. It’s also a positive sign for the future.

“There’s a lot to be optimistic about for this organization,” veteran linebacker Demario Davis said. “I love the coaches they brought in and the culture that has been established.”

All things considered, it might be the best six-win season in franchise history. The glass certainly felt half-full after the way the season ended. Indeed, it felt like the Saints were two different teams this season — the one that started 1-8, and the one that finished 5-3.

Ultimately, the Saints won only one more game than they did in 2024, but the vibes around the team and the perception of the organization are dramatically different than a year ago — night-and-day different.

“There’s a lot to be excited about,” said Davis, who then rattled off the names of nearly every young player on the roster, starting with Shough. “(We’re) heading into the offseason with a lot of momentum. What you have is no longer ‘potential,’ but you have guys who are answering the call and becoming who they were projected to be. When you have all that happening at one time, it’s a good thing.”

The Saints entered the season with innumerable questions. They had the most inexperienced quarterback room in the league, and their roster was widely viewed as the worst in the NFL. But in the end, they exceeded the expectations of most analysts and pundits, including yours truly. And along the way, they found answers to questions at the game’s most important spots: quarterback and head coach. For those reasons alone, the season was a win.

In Shough and Moore, the Saints have a promising young battery to build around. They have altered the perception and the trajectory of the entire franchise. A future that once looked hopeless now seems hopeful. And their days of playing spoilers in the NFC South just might be a thing of the past.