The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league’s National Football Conference (NFC) South division.
Ironically, as Diliberto had recommended prior to Mora’s resignation, former Chicago Bears head coach Mike Ditka was hired to succeed Mora after the conclusion of the 1996 season.
Despite the fact that this initially caused a great deal of excitement among Saints fans, Ditka’s time with the team was ultimately unsuccessful. During the first two seasons of Ditka’s tenure, the Saints posted a combined 6–10 record (1997 and 1998).
In the 1999 NFL Draft, Ditka dealt all of his picks for that season, as well as the first-round and third-round picks for the next season, to the Washington Redskins in order to draft Ricky Williams, a running back from the University of Texas who had won the Heisman Trophy the previous year.
In order to properly honor the event, Ditka and Williams posed for a photo as though they were getting married.
The team finished the 1999 season with a record of 3–13, which led to the dismissal of head coach Mike Ditka, the majority of his coaching staff, and general manager Bill Kuharich.