It’s hard not to feel any lower if you’re a New Orleans Saints fan after the way the team was eliminated in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday.

The Saints were bounced from the playoffs after officials missed one of the most obvious pass interference calls in NFL postseason history against Saints wideout Tommylee Lewis.

Instead, the Rams went onto win the game and earn a berth in Super Bowl LIII.

The player who was guilty of the penalty, Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman, admitted that he did, in fact, interfere with Lewis on the pass attempt late in the game.

“Yes, I got there too early,” Robey-Coleman said. “I was beat, and I was trying to save the touchdown.”

He did save the touchdown, but he should have also been penalized for one of the most blatant interference calls ever seen in a playoff game. But he wasn’t, and the Saints lost.

No flag was thrown on what was a key third down that would have given the Saints a fresh set of downs inside the Rams 10 and a chance to run the clock out before kicking a field goal to win it.

Coleman added that the officials told him the ball was tipped, so he was technically free to make contact the receiver, but replays showed that the ball was not tipped while in the air.

Some Saints fans, and other football observers, may take some solace in the fact that the player admitted the penalty was missed, but that won’t win the game for the Saints.

Los Angeles head coach Sean McVay admitted that he was grateful for how the contest was officiated.

“Certainly I’m not going to complain about the way that that was officiated,” McVay said afterwards.

The coach said he was pleased to see that officials would not decide the game either way. Of course, every Saints fan would argue that the officials did very much decide the game.

“The one thing I respect about the refs today is they let the guys play,” McVay said.

That they certainly did, and now the Saints are deprived of a berth in Super Bowl LIII.