The New Orleans Saints don’t have it, but folks in and around New Orleans (like Natchez and Vidalia) still pull for the Saints to accomplish something.

And sure enough on Sunday in the Crescent City the Saints piled all over the Chicago Bears for a not-so-pretty 20-13 victory. A home win is a home win, just like a win is a win.

One wire service came up with this classic lead on its game story: &8220;The Chicago Bears had just what the New Orleans Saints needed &045; one of the NFL’s worst defenses.&8221; The truth hurts sometimes, but that’s a fact &045; the Saints had to find a team a smidgen behind them on defense. In came in the form of the Bears.

You still can’t tell about New Orleans, but a win is a win, again. At least Saints’ QB Aaron Brooks fired tow touchdown passes in the nod over the Bears. He hit Joe Horn on a 6-yard scoring pass that sealed the victory for New Orleans.

Brooks came up with this pretty good description after the game: &8220;The game was far from a gem, but the most important thing is we came out of here with a win.&8221;

Chicago’s defense was pitiful and all that, but still the Saints were up to the task. And that’s all that counts, like Brooks said.

Looking for positives as regards to the Saints, Deuce McAllister is looking like an Archie Manning, the sturdy one who went to the Saints 32 years ago and found very little else already in camp. Archie played well and all that but he again wasn’t surrounded by a great deal of talent and was doomed to play out his career with mostly losing teams.

Chicago’s bad defense was the main reason the Saints snapped their skid. At least McAllister gained 116 yards on 29 carries to go with Brooks’ 153 yards on 14-of-29 passing effort.

Ole Miss’ McAllister has to wonder if his fate might be like that of Archie’s more than 30 years ago. Let’s hope not, I say again. Most fans around here pull for the Saints &045; makes for fun readin’ and talkin’.

All anyone can do is wait and read the results in The Democrat, then either fell good or fumble around with a reason if the Saints lost. Football’s just that kind of sport &045; anything can happen at any time.

Š Move over Nick Turner and Jerious Norwood, that talented Maroon-clad pair presently making their move for the Mississippi State Bulldogs’ 2-4 team. The Maroons have received a much-needed additional shot in the arm from a surprise kickoff returner named Fred Reid Š MSU may stand ready now to make a concrete move; Bulldog supporters certainly have their fingers crossed, or that’s what one ‘Dog fan told me Monday Š

If you were watching TV last Saturday you had to jump up when Reid accepted a Memphis kickoff in his own end zone and set sail on as pretty a run as I’ve ever seen &045; a 100-yard tear that was a thrill for all Mississippi State football fans.

Reid, the third-string tailback, has to warrant a closer look after a run that certainly impressed everyone. In other words, it wasn’t even near a &8220;gimme,&8221; for Reid had to do more on his own than some 100-yard TD returners. Betcha opponents will be trying to force him to the sidelines on all his other returns.

Glenvall Estes is a longtime columnist for The Natchez Democrat.