The New Orleans Saints dismissed coach Dennis Allen after losing their seventh consecutive game on Sunday.

Sources tell Schefter that special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi has been designated temporary coach.

The Saints won their first two games this season but haven’t won since, most recently losing to the Carolina Panthers 23-22.

The Saints got off to an impressive start, winning their first two games by 37 and 25 points, respectively. Since then, New Orleans has dropped seven consecutive games.

“I’m going to keep coming in every day and fighting my ass off, just like I have every single day that I’ve been here,” Allen stated Sunday when questioned about his work situation.

This is the Saints’ first midseason termination since Tom Benson purchased the franchise in 1985. The latest in-season firing happened in 1980, when Dick Nolan was sacked after going 0-12 in his third season. The squad also changed coaches during the season in 1996, when Jim Mora quit following a 2-6 start, and subsequently went 1-7 under Rick Venturi.

Allen, who took over for Sean Payton as coach in 2022, led the team to an 18-25 record.

“That’s an obvious message. “We’ve got to find a way to win,” one player said of Allen’s firing.

This is the Saints’ first seven-game losing streak since 1999. That season, the team finished 3-13 and dismissed both coach Mike Ditka and general manager Bill Kuharich.

Following the Saints’ 9-8 record in January, general manager Mickey Loomis backed Allen, citing other Hall of Fame coaches who had poor starts to their careers. Instead, the Saints overhauled their offensive staff and parted ways with longtime offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael.

Allen took over much of former coach Payton’s staff in 2022, but by his third season, Allen had hired the majority of the coaching staff. Derek Carr, signed by the Saints in 2023, was also a 2014 draft pick by Allen while with the Raiders.

Allen finished 8-28 as Raiders coach and was sacked after an 0-4 start to his third season with the team in 2014.

Loomis also backed Allen lately, stating that everyone should look “beyond the results,” referring to the Saints’ high number of injuries this season. Carr, several starting offensive linemen, and top wide outs Rashid Shaheed and Chris Olave were among the injured players.

Olave suffered his second concussion this season in Sunday’s loss, prompting a rant from former Saints receiver Michael Thomas. Thomas appeared to blame Carr for Olave’s injury in a series of posts on X.

Loomis, on the other hand, was unable to defend Allen following a loss to the Panthers, who entered Sunday’s game with only one win. Prior to their game against the Panthers, the Saints were last in total defense.

The Saints’ fan base, which left the Caesars Superdome in droves during a 33-10 loss to the Denver Broncos and Payton in Week 7, demanded Allen’s firing on social media.

Players also went to social media to vent their frustrations.

“We just lost to the Panthers…” Longtime defensive end Cameron Jordan commented on X, “I love y’all New Orleans truly had higher expectations and the best of hopes for us, y’all deserve it.” This sparked a flurry of back-and-forth between Saints and Panthers players regarding their contrasting 2-7 records.

Allen spent much of his professional career in New Orleans. Payton hired him as an assistant defensive line coach in 2006, and he served as secondary coach for the team that won the Super Bowl in 2009.

Allen left in 2011 for a one-year stint as Denver’s defensive coordinator, but returned to New Orleans in 2015 after being dismissed in Oakland. Allen replaced Rob Ryan as defensive coordinator in 2015 and remained there until he was promoted to head coach after Payton stepped down at the end of the 2021 season.