The 1986 New Orleans Saints season was the team's 20th as a member of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

. They improved upon their previous season's output of 5–11, winning seven games.

Offseason

Organizational changes

On January 14, owner

Tom Benson Thomas Milton Benson Jr. (July 12, 1927 – March 15, 2018) was an American businessman, philanthropist and sports franchise owner. He was the owner of several automobile dealerships before buying the New Orleans Saints of the National Football L ...

hired

Jim Finks James Edward Finks (August 31, 1927 – May 8, 1994) was an American professional football player, coach, and executive. Early life and playing career Finks was born in St. Louis, Missouri, attended high school in Salem, Illinois, and attended ...

as the franchise's general manager, and turned over the entire football operation to the veteran operative who previously built championship clubs with the Minnesota Vikings and

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

. Two weeks later, Finks hired Jim Mora as the new head coach. Mora was the most successful coach in the history of the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

, leading the

Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars The Philadelphia / Baltimore Stars were a professional American football team which played in the United States Football League (USFL) in the mid-1980s. Owned by real-estate magnate Myles Tanenbaum, they were the short-lived league's dominant ...

to two USFL championships and a runner-up finish.

NFL draft

Personnel

Staff

Roster

Schedule

Week 1

Week 2

Standings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1986 New Orleans Saints season New Orleans Saints seasons

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

New New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...