The Saints didn’t even have a game last week and they still managed to rise to 3rd place in the NFC South standings. How did that happen? Because the Carolina Panthers are awful, that’s how. The 2015 NFC Champions have managed to squander whatever magic they had during last year’s 15-1 season, somehow blundering their way from the Super Bowl to the bottom of their division.

When one’s mind wanders to the subject of incompetent panthers–as it often does–it invariably lands on Inspector Jacques Clouseau, aka The Pink Panther. The famously inept French detective, masterfully embodied by the late, great Peter Sellers, sure knew how to drop the proverbial ball, just as the Carolina Panthers know how to drop the literal one (if their 13 turnovers, the most in the league, are any indication).

That’s why I’ve selected “The Pink Panther Theme” as the latest New Orleans Saints Song of the Week. Composed by Henry Mancini in 1963, the instrumental piece was later nominated for an Academy Award and has since become a fixture of pop culture. There’s also a local connection with the song, as it’s signature tenor saxophone riff was laid down by Donaldsonville, LA native Plas Johnson, who found considerable success as a Los Angeles-based session musician in the 1950s and ‘60s.

The Carolina Panthers have thus far had a terrible season, so hopefully the Saints will keep it that way when they head to the Superdome this Sunday. Whoever loses will end up at the bottom of the NFC South, and I think most Who Dats would agree that we’ve spent more than enough time down there already.

Check out our Saints Songs of the Week from Week 1, Week 2, Week 3 and Week 4.