More than any season in recent memory, this has been a living nightmare for the Saints and their fans.

New Orleans is now 2-4 this season after losing in the final minute of play to Detroit Sunday, the third time this season the Saints have gone down after losing the lead in the final minute.

It’s incredibly frustrating to witness for multiple reasons. The Saints, under Sean Payton, typically win these kinds of games historically.

The worst part about the Lions loss is it felt very much like a strong win for so long. Detroit has one of the NFL’s elite defenses, strange as it sounds given its history. The Saints limited an offense lacking most of its healthy playmakers, including Calvin Johnson. It was a road game, and coming out of the bye week, it looked for all the world as if the Saints had finally answered the bell, responding in a true must-win situation with its best effort of the year.

Not so. The entire ball of yard began to quickly unravel in the final five minutes, starting with the 70-yard touchdown pass allowed to Golden Tate.

Making matters worse was the Saints’ top cornerback, Keenan Lewis, injured himself attempting to run down the play. He’d miss the final drive. Anyone familiar with the efforts of the Saints’ secondary this season knows exactly how dire the situation becomes if Lewis goes down. It became imperative for the Saints to get a first down …

… leading to an almost predictable Drew Brees backbreaking interception, setting Detroit up on the Saints’ doorstep. It wasn’t Brees’ most egregious error this season in my mind; given the situation with the Lewis injury, I certainly know I felt a punt meant certain doom and a completion meant hope.

The Saints are not dead and buried, remarkably. In a very tough NFC, they probably should be, but the NFC South is apparently the exception to the rule: it’s unspeakably bad.

Believe it or not, the Saints have scored the most points per game in the division … and allowed the least! Yes, you read that right!

Still, with Green Bay coming to town this Sunday night, it just doesn’t feel like an optimistic time.

The Packers have the best quarterback alive and a trio of strong receivers. This Saints team has a knack for bringing the heat when everyone’s written them off, and it is a night home game, where Brees and company don’t lose. Heck, even in this “nightmare” campaign, the Brees/Payton tag team still has kept its home winning streak going; factoring out Payton’s 2012 suspension season, the Saints have won 19 home games in a row with “Da Coach” patrolling the Superdome sideline. And Las Vegas still believes … kinda. As of this writing, New Orleans in a one-point favorite, kind of the oddsmakers’ way of saying, “They’ve got a better team and we’re not sure your home voodoo can overcome that … but until we see it can’t, we’ll say it can.”

As bleak as things look, a win Sunday and a win on a short week at Carolina would bring hopes — at least locally — back up considerably.

Let’s hope Rob Ryan has a trick or two up his sleeve to contain Rodgers, and that Brees can tap into that strong will of his to remind everyone what a Hall of Famer in waiting looks like when he’s backed against a wall.