The black and gold band is breaking up.

The New Orleans Saints’ four-year run of success came to a disappointing end with Sunday’s 30-20 playoff defeat to Tampa Bay. During that four-year stretch, the Saints won a NFL-high 49 regular season games and became the first team to win four straight NFC South titles.

Yet, the team didn’t win a Lombardi Trophy and actually didn’t even play in the Super Bowl — becoming the first team to win 49 games and not reach a Super Bowl. The Saints also enter the offseason having lost in the playoffs inside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome for a third consecutive season.

Which makes all the success a little bittersweet to say the least.

Even with the heartbreaking results, the Saints’ run is one of the most impressive in modern NFL history but the reality hitting everyone now is that it has come to an end — at least in this incarnation of the lineup.

The focus in the days since the playoff loss has been solely on that we all witnessed the swan song of No. 9 — Drew Brees.

The official retirement announcement is expected to be made in the coming days, and watching Brees throw passes to his small children on the artificial turf afterwards made many members of Who Dat Nation — and the media — a tad emotional.

No one wanted to see the Brees era end with him throwing for a paltry 134 yards and three interceptions in yet another playoff loss, but ‘Father Time’ as they say is undefeated.

That particular soliloquy of Brees’ storied career though should be saved for another day, and written by a far more poetic writer.

For right now, the focus needs to be on how the people that made up this Saints run or band if you will be breaking up in more ways than simply the face of the franchise riding off to the NBC broadcast booth in the sky.

The brain trust that has put together this team with smart drafting, shrewd and under-the-radar free agent signings and stellar coaching is also coming apart.

Terry Fontenot, who began his career with the Saints as a marketing intern 18 years ago, has left his post as vice president/assistant general manager for pro personnel to become the new general manager for the rival Atlanta Falcons.

Yes, a longtime member of the Saints will be leading the Dirty Birds. 

Both assistant head coach Dan Campbell and defensive backs coach Aaron Glenn, who have been on the coaching staff since 2016, are headed to Detroit. Campbell will take over as the Lions new head coach and Glenn will serve as his defensive coordinator.

By the way, the Saints current defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, who has served in that role since 2015 and was the secondary coach on the Super Bowl team, is interviewing for the head coaching job with the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Saints were also a courtesy call from losing their defensive line coach Ryan Nielsen to the LSU Tigers. Ed Orgeron wanted to hire Nielsen to be his new defensive coordinator but things got so contentious that the Saints ultimately squashed the deal, and instead gave Nielsen a new deal and new title of assistant head coach.

That will likely make things awkward at the next Tiger Tour stop in New Orleans. 

Then there are the slew of players who are set to become free agents — 21 in fact. That includes key players such as defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins, special teams stalwart Craig Robertson, defensive backs P.J. Williams and Marcus Williams, defensive end Trey Hendrickson and linebacker Alex Anzalone.

Yes, Saints general manager Mickey Loomis has long been a salary cap wizard, but this might be impossible even for him.

In addition to having that many players needing to be resigned, the salary cap is expected not to increase for the first time in years (it may even decrease by $20 million), and the team has more than $100 million in salary for next season in key players like Michael Thomas, Cameron Jordan, Terron Armstead, Taysom Hill and others.

Not to mention, Brees retirement will reportedly cost nearly $23 million in dead cap space, and cornerback Marshon Lattimore and right tackle Ryan Ramczyk are entering the final year of rookie deals and looking for extensions.

There is no way that the Saints will be able to keep everyone together, as there will be several roster casualties and roster depth — a strength of this team for the past four years, will take a significant hit. Not to mention, who will be there on staff to develop the new Saints into Pro Bowlers and All-Pros? That remains to be seen.

Will the Saints be competitive or possibly a playoff team in 2021? Probably. Could they be a Super Bowl contender again in 2021 or beyond? Sure. Whatever is accomplished moving forward, the names on the lockers and office doors of the team facility in Metairie will be different.

The men who made such sweet gridiron music will no longer be there, but the black and gold band will continue playing on — just like it always has.

RAYMOND PARTSCH III is a longtime sportswriter and radio broadcaster.