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Haley Joy is the face of all Saints fans after team comes up short of Super Bowl

Haley's not too happy about the Saints' controversial loss to the Rams.
/ Source: TODAY

Hoda Kotb's daughter, Haley Joy, was the face of every dejected New Orleans Saints fan on Monday morning.

Haley, who turns 2 next month, experienced more heartbreak as a football fan after the Saints suffered a devastating 26-23 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Rams in New Orleans' Superdome on Sunday with a trip to the 2019 Super Bowl on the line.

Hoda, who has been a diehard Saints fan since her days as an anchor at a CBS affiliate in New Orleans in the 1990s, posted a photo of a frustrated Haley in her tiny Saints jersey on Instagram Monday.

"The face I made this morning when I realized it wasn't a bad dream,'' she wrote. "We love you @saints !!!! Next year baby! #blessyouboys."

Hoda had already won a friendly wager with Savannah Guthrie after the Saints vanquished the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in the previous round, but it was not meant to be on Sunday.

Saints fans were especially anguished and irate because officials missed a blatant penalty late in the fourth quarter that would have let New Orleans run the clock down and most likely win the game on a short field goal with little time remaining.

Instead, the Rams mounted a comeback to send the game into overtime and then won it on a 57-yard field goal by Greg Zuerlein to dash the Saints' hopes of their first Super Bowl appearance since 2010.

Saints head coach Sean Payton said afterward that the officials "blew the call," and the NFL is expected to publicly admit it was a missed call.

The controversial ending led to more than a few TVs being destroyed by apoplectic Saints fans.

A local news station also captured an electronic message on a local highway that made the city's feelings known about the officiating.

A Louisiana eye care business posted on Facebook that it "will GLADLY provide no cost eye exams to all NFL officials prior to next season."

New Orleans native Harry Connick Jr. took to Instagram to write an open letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell about his disgust with the officials. He also said he would not be watching the Super Bowl this year.

The agony of Haley Joy, Hoda and Saints fans was contrasted by the ecstasy of New England Patriots fans, including TODAY's Dylan Dreyer and her son, Calvin. The Patriots advanced to their third straight Super Bowl and their fifth in the last eight seasons thanks to a 37-31 overtime thriller against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Calvin, 2, who only knows a world in which the Patriots make the Super Bowl every year, had an especially awesome Sunday because he also got to eat his first brownie.

Dylan and her family are hoping to enjoy that sweet taste of victory again on Feb. 3 when the Patriots square off against the Rams in Atlanta with the Super Bowl championship on the line.