By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – Online polls don’t often have an option that is the absolute right answer, but an unfortunate and surprising turn of events involving the Saints last weekend created just such an anomaly.

With the Saints back in the playoffs for a second straight year, L’Observateur asked website visitors how far they thought the Black and Gold would make it in the post-season. When the question was written, no one expected the defending Super Bowl champs to bow out after one game to the team with the worst record in the tournament, the 7-9 Seahawks.

Saturday’s losing effort by the Saints provoked an interesting but expected reaction by voters.

Prior to the game being played Saturday afternoon, the majority of those who responded to the poll were confident that the Saints would repeat as champions. The option was garnering more than twice as many votes as any other choice in the poll.

Things changed after the game when visitors logged on to vote that the team wouldn’t make it past the first round. That option, which finished at just over 25 percent, gained momentum and nearly surpassed the “repeat” option, which still finished at the top with 35 percent of the vote.

A complete breakdown of the votes follows below:

• 35 percent of respondents chose “They will repeat as world champions.”

• 26 percent of respondents chose “They will not make it past the first round.”

• 18 percent of respondents chose “They will lose in the second round.”

• 11 percent of respondents chose “They will fall short in the NFC championship game.”

• 10 percent of respondents chose “They will win the NFC but lose the Super Bowl.”