Drew Brees was back at the Superdome on Thursday night.

Sean Payton was also there, as were about two dozen players from the Saints’ Super Bowl XLIV championship team.

But the magic and mojo of the Payton Brees era are long gone.

In fact, they never seemed further away.

On a night of pomp and pageantry celebrating Brees’ Saints Hall of Fame induction and anticipation of Payton’s homecoming to the Superdome, there was only frustration and failure.

Frustration in the form of a fifth straight loss, this time to Payton’s Denver Broncos, who showed no mercy to the undermanned Saints, handing them their second straight home loss with a 33-10 setback.

The failure stems from head coach Dennis Allen’s inability to pull the Saints out of crisis and get revenge on his former mentor, who broke the hearts of the team’s loyal fans when he abruptly left the city and the franchise three years ago .

The five-game losing streak began after opening the season with two promising wins. It is the league’s longest streak with the Patriots and the longest losing streak the team has suffered in the last 18 years.

It was the team’s second straight home loss by 23 points or more, and the fact that the loss was at the hands of Payton, the winningest coach in Saints history, only made it harder to swallow.

Seeing Payton roaming the visitors’ sideline in an orange visor and blue hoodie had to be unsettling for Saints fans, who have yet to enjoy much success since his departure from town and are increasingly frustrated with his successor. It didn’t help that Payton’s longtime adviser, Pete Carmichael, who was unceremoniously fired as the Saints’ offensive coordinator in January, was at Payton’s side most of the night.

With so much excitement and excitement surrounding Brees and Payton’s performances, the game largely felt like an afterthought, especially with so many stars from both teams sidelined by injury. And it largely stuck to the bill. The Broncos and Saints battled through a defensive field goal fest where the defense dominated and the offense engaged in a pillow fight between sporadic rookie quarterbacks Bo Nix and Spencer Rattler.

It was the kind of game where a 7-yard gain felt like a big play and a first down felt like a win. Otherwise, there wasn’t much to celebrate for the Saints, who only scored a touchdown in the final minutes. By this point, the vast majority of Saints fans had long since headed for the exits and the lower bowl of the stadium was a sea of ​​orange-clad Broncos fans.

It certainly put a damper on Brees’ Hall of Fame celebration and cast a dark specter over the rest of the season.

The ailing Allen desperately needed this game. The more injuries and losses there are, the worse the performances become and the winning streak at the beginning of the year seems more and more like a mirage.

To be fair, Allen competed with one hand tied behind his back. The Saints were missing several offensive starters, including Taysom Hill, their top receivers (Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed) and three-fifths of their lineup. But the defense, which is relatively healthy and should be Allen’s calling card, once again played with a glaring lack of urgency and aggressiveness.

Given the circumstances, it may have been the most important game of Allen’s three-year tenure as coach. And it ended in disgrace, not just for him but for the Saints fans, who had little to applaud other than their former heroes and a happy past that recedes further and further into the distance with each passing day.