Dennis Allen’s Saints bafflingly opted for an onside kick with 4 minutes left in a 1-score game

Despite getting their teeth kicked in by the Los Angeles Rams for most of the night, the New Orleans Saints had a legitimate shot at making an unlikely comeback on Thursday night.

That is until Dennis Allen completely overthought the game’s most important sequence.

After the Saints cut the Rams’ lead to 30-22 with just under four minutes left, Allen made a very strange decision. Instead of kicking the ball deep to pin the Rams’ offense back, he opted for a low-percentage onside kick that effectively ended the game once Los Angeles recovered.

What are we doing here, folks? Why don’t we trust our players?

What in the world is New Orleans doing going on sides kick???

— Rich Eisen (@richeisen) December 22, 2023

It’s kind of baffling to consider that a coach would actually want to lean on an onside kick — which is almost never recovered by the kicking team these days — instead of asking his defense to get a single stop. But maybe that’s why Allen is on the hot seat, and the Saints are in danger of missing the playoffs.