Of course, they won't have to search their memory banks very long to come up with the most recent loss that will likely linger over them -- a 33-31 setback to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday in the Superdome.

The Saints can look at any one or two of six losses that caused them to miss the playoffs for a second straight season, so it's not difficult to pinpoint where it got away from them.

But they do know this: Sunday's disappointing finish against the Panthers looked and smelled an awful lot like some of their other losses because of a failure to finish a team off when they had their chance late in the contest.

After trailing 30-10 going into the fourth quarter on Sunday, the Saints rallied for 21 points to take the lead at 31-30 with a little more than three minutes left. But the defense gave up a big play on the Panthers' first play following the ensuing kickoff and Carolina quickly got close enough for the game-winning field goal with one second left.

It was, to say the least, a microcosm of the Saints' season. With a play here or there in crunch time, they would not have dropped six games by a total of 18 points. Turn that around in just half of those situations and the Saints are 11-5 and heading to the playoffs.

"This has been somewhat the story of the season, and that's not a good thing," said coach Sean Payton. "Nonetheless, we came up short."

Payton's team was 0-5 this season in games decided by three points or less, including one by a field goal in overtime at Chicago. While Sunday's loss to the Panthers wasn't in overtime, it was gut wrenching, nevertheless.

"It's a tough, tough pill to swallow," Saints fullback Mike Karney said. "It's just one more thing that's tough to take. It's a game that, gosh, you'd like to have -- you want to have. It's tough that we couldn't be on the other end of it."