Going in hungry

• By SHELDON MICKLES
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Jul 20, 2008 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 1:15 a.m.

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The record shows the New Orleans Saints ended the 2007 season with a 33-25 setback to the Chicago Bears last Dec. 30 in chilly Soldier Field.

Sean Payton, however, will be the first to tell you his team was finished long before that. Some would argue they were done after a dreadful 0-4 start, with their hopes and dreams of winning a second straight division title and getting to the Super Bowl dashed almost before the season started.

As a result, the rest of the season was an uphill fight for Payton, the 2006 NFL coach of the year, and the Saints. But while most coaches would want to bury a 7-9 season, Payton hopes to use it to his advantage.

When the Saints report to training camp in Jackson, Miss., on Wednesday and take the practice field Thursday morning, Payton expects his team to be better for last year’s experience — as terribly painful as it was at the time.

“The proof is in the pudding,” Payton said earlier this spring. “The only thing you can look at is the fact that the record was 7-9 and not what we wanted.”

The Saints did show some improvement after that 0-4 start. They won four in a row to get back to 4-4 and were 7-7 with an opportunity to make the playoffs before closing with two losses.

“I think the one lesson learned and something I referenced in a letter to the team when the offseason started, was that it’s hard to get behind the eight-ball and start slow,” Payton said. “When you start 0-4, you’ve really changed the odds for your team.

“Even when we got to 4-4 and won four in a row, you feel you have expended so much energy,” he said. “We never could get past that .500 mark. I think the players understand that more coming off last season.”

Payton and the front office certainly understood. They spent much of the offseason retooling a defense that ranked 26th in total yards allowed and 30th against the pass.

“Certainly, we felt the need to improve on that side of the ball,” Payton said. “We talked about a number of statistics that apply not only to our defense, but to our kicking game as well as to the offense. There are a number of things we have to pay attention to coming off of a 7-9 season.”

Still, no part of the defense was ignored as the Saints took an aggressive approach to upgrading a unit that allowed 32 touchdown passes — which tied for most in the NFL — and 54 passes of 20 yards or more.

The Saints brought in defensive end Bobby McCray to help Will Smith and Charles Grant with the pass rush, while they moved up in the first round of the draft to select defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis to help stop the run.

They finally got the playmaking linebacker they sought by trading a fourth-round draft pick to the New York Jets to get middle linbacker Jonathan Vilma, the 2004 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.