Given that the Saints were the only team in the NFC South that finished with a winning season, it’s fair to say that it wasn’t a banner year for the division overall. The Falcons collapsed thanks to injuries, the Panthers went from playoff lock to also-ran, and the Buccaneers were as mediocre as ever.
That’s somewhat of an aberration in the history of the NFC South, which has been one of the most competitive and best divisions in football since the 2002 re-alignment. The NFC South has been the third-best in the NFL in terms of divisional record since then, has been one of the better ones at delivering deep playoff runs for its teams, and has been the best at churning out quality teams year after year without being dominated by a single team like the AFC North and AFC East have been.