Transcript of Coach Sean Payton's postgame press conference:

"It was obviously a difficult loss. We were able to fight back in the second half and kind of get back in the game and in the end weren't able to make enough plays. We kind of had it back and forth a bit, certainly for the last quarter, but credit San Francisco for coming away with win. We'll watch this tape tomorrow and try to get this thing behind us as soon as we can."

On the 51-yard completion by San Francisco late in regulation:

"Well, without seeing film, it's a scramble. I really have to look at the tape, but obviously the play is extended, he steps and finds a receiver late down the field so without seeing it on tape it is kind of hard to guess because it's a broken play. We'll look at that and try to get it cleaned up. Obviously, it was a pretty significant play; there were a number of them."

On broken plays making it more difficult for the cornerbacks:

"You have coverage areas and those are good for 3-4 seconds and then everyone scatters at that point to different spots and that gets a little contorted. Does that make sense? That's hard, it's hard when all of the sudden there are seven or eight seconds it's hard to keep your coverage integrity."

On having a lot of close games of late not going his way:

"There is nothing to put our finger on, nothing specific we've had some go our way just like a year ago so you just have to keep trekking."

On if he considered going for it on fourth down in overtime:

"Yes, I was kind of running out of fourth down plays though. In all seriousness, when you go for it on fourth you probably have something you like and you spend some time on it. Honestly, there are a handful of plays but I don't think there were any that seemed like the right thing to do based on what we were looking at, but that was the one of many."

On being in a lot of third and shorts today:

"That was part of the plan. In the first half we weren't as much but in the second half we were and so our third down percentages then increased. Part of it was the bounce and the rushing number and that all kind of when hand-in-hand and then we were getting some of the more favorable third down and distances. There was a lot that went on in that fourth quarter when you look to the incomplete pass and were inside of two minutes or in overtime and all of the sudden we get the call the right way. There was about a seven-minute period where that game went back."

On the pass interference call on the Hail Mary:

"I saw it, it looked clean. We'll see it on film. You guys probably had a better angle of it."

On Mark Ingram's third straight game with over 100 yards:

"Yes in the second half especially we got some things going, and it is a good defense. It was a hard fought game. It was a physical game."

On it being unusual to start out slow at home:

"That is unusual, but fortunately we were able to fight back."

On the end of the first half:

"We're kind of in a hurry up mode still and we had two timeouts and we are going to save one always if we can. It was a big turnover forced by our defense and we weren't able to capitalize on it. They made a big play on the turnover into the end zone. We were still trying to conserve time and we typically think aggressively touchdown, but field goal if not and that time we were close there."

On the plan with Keenan Lewis:

"He went out for a little bit, he was nicked up, and then came back in and we kind of got him back into the game, he felt better. That obviously gave Patrick (Robinson) more reps and (Brian Dixon) a little bit more work so they just kind of moved up."

On if out of two 4-4 teams can one be more desperate:

"Everyone is fighting and battling and both teams laid it out there. You just have to watch the game. You guys saw it. Those guys were fighting hard. It was a tough game for someone to lose. It was tough for us to lose again, our guys played hard."