OK, maybe I’m crazy.

That was a rhetorical statement. No need to all shout out at once.

And don’t worry, this will never happen anyway.

But would it be the worst thing in the world if the Saints’ world-wide search for a new head coach circled all the way back to New Orleans and landed on Darren Rizzi, the current interim coach?

At least he’s not Dennis Allen.

Like I said, don’t hold your breath.

I’m guessing it would not go over well with the Who Dat nation.

You go 5-12 — the team’s worst record since the 3-13 nightmare of 2005, which had Katrina as an excuse — you’ve got a lot of making up to do.

You need to make a splash.

That 2005 outside search begat a fairly unknown Sean Payton (and, OK, also the gift of Drew Brees), so looking elsewhere certainly turned out to be the right move then.

And hiring from within to get Allen after Payton’s departure is why the Saints are in this mess to begin with.

The Saints almost can’t afford to go that route again — unless it might work.

The fan base will want something new and shiny after this season’s disaster. Mainly something different.

Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, a former Saints assistant, seems to be the hot commodity out there.

Jon Gruden must have served his penance because his name is cropping up on wish lists.

As long as the Lions are in the playoffs, rules prevent teams from talking to Glenn.

He was already high on any suitor’s lists, but that was quite an audition he put on Sunday night in taking an injury-depleted Lions defense and shutting down the Vikings’ jet-powered offense.

Of course, a coach adept at coaching around, and overcoming, one injury after another is what the Saints needed this season, which had to be an historical rash of banged-up players and season-ending injuries.

Hopefully, that skill won’t be needed moving forward — no coach in his right mind would sign up for that.

Working on that assumption, Rizzi’s 3-5 stint as an interim wasn’t a fair assessment.

He seemed to spend most of his time scouring the waiver wire just to field a starting lineup each week.

Bad as they were on the field, it was almost fun to watch the Saints each week — entertaining at least. You had the added drinking game of chugging every time a pass was caught or sack made by some anonymous Saint you’d never heard of.

More likely, though, it would be a sack allowed by some newly signed offensive lineman who was bartending the previous week.

They even stumbled across some hidden gems along the way.

But mostly it was a collection of guys who couldn’t play anywhere else in the NFL for a reason.

Rizzi probably did the best he could. Presumably Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis — assuming his job is safe — will at least give Rizzi an honest look, more than a token interview.

I’m not really endorsing him, just saying don’t automatically rule him out.

At least Rizzi had a pulse, at least the Saints showed some life after he took over from Allen, whose body language inspired all the excitement and confidence of a dead mannequin walking up and down the sideline.

By the time Rizzi took over after seven consecutive losses, the Saints didn’t really have anything but mathematical pipe dreams to play for.

Yet give him credit. It was noticeable from his first game. The Saints, if mostly lacking in football artistry, always played hard, somewhat inspired — even the vagabonds who hadn’t been signed long enough to learn all the plays.

It wasn’t lack of effort that caused their travails.

By the end, what was left of the team dressing out just wasn’t very good.

True, given the chance, guys who otherwise wouldn’t be in the NFL are going to play hard. Still, give Rizzi credit for getting the most out of them.

If you were to take that rag-tag bunch, you could look at the late-season injury reports and feel pretty good about next season adding the likes of Alvin Kamara, Taysom Hill, Chris Olave, Derek Carr, Rashid Shaheed, Pete Werner, Chris Olave, etc., and etc.

That’s with doing nothing.

Remember, that was a team that looked Super Bowl-bound after it’s 2-0 start (while scoring 91 points).

It might be interesting to see what might have been.

So maybe let’s also hold off on the talk of blowing up this team and starting completely over.
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Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics. Email him at scooter.hobbs@americanpress.com