In Super Bowl XLIV, it was the first time the winning team had lost their last three regular season games. It was the first time a team kicked an onside kick prior to the 4th quarter. It was the first time a kicker made three field goals longer than 40 yards. It was only the second time a team came back from a ten-point deficit to win it. It was the first time the Saints won the Super Bowl, after 43 years of franchise existence.
Sunday night was everything we wanted. We wanted to win, but if it wasn’t to be we at least wanted a good, close game — anything but an embarrassing blowout. The Colts were heavy favorites. We Saints fans had been bombarded all season and especially during the two weeks leading up to the big game with reasons why the Colts were the superlative team, the dominant team, the most likely championship team. We knew the Saints could be that team, though, because we’d been watching them all season. We had already witnessed many seeming miracles that made us believe. Yet, despite the exciting wins and impressive stats, the Saints were given only a begrudging respect — the historically losing franchise represents, after all, a city and state that put the ‘fun’ in ‘dysfunctional, corrupt and backward,’ and many commentators and football fans were just waiting for them to blow it, waiting for the curtain to be pulled back, waiting for the child to point at the naked emperor and announce the obvious for all to finally see. Many were just plain hating on the Saints.
Well, think again or suck it. Our low-ranked defense proved itself in a stunning redemption and our offense played both subtly and incredibly well. Brees completed 32 of 39 passes to finish the game with 288 passing yards. After Colston dropped that first perfectly placed pass, he realized he didn’t want to let that happen again. Special teams shocked everyone with their onside kick to open up the third quarter, and the offense took it home like they knew they had to after those unsuccessful running plays cost us a TD in the second quarter. Shockey caught a touchdown pass after having had to sit out due to injury and watch his team lose the last three games of the regular season, and of course Port Allen’s own Tracy Porter swooped into the end zone with an intercepted ball in one hand and the other raised, pumping in the air in jubilant, celebratory fashion. Our defense closed it out by shutting down the Colts in their red zone when they went for it on 4th. (Colts were #2 in the league for scoring inside the red zone, but the Saints were #2 in the league for defending the red zone, and the Saints won.)
Prior to the game, the commentators commented their commentary that no team had ever had a 3-game losing streak at the end of the regular season and gone on to win the big game. Oh, and they were first-timers at the Super Bowl, so that made a Saints victory less likely. (Only 4 out of 19 teams making their initial Super Bowl appearance have won against their more experienced competitors. Well, now it’s 5 out of 20.) Our coaching staff knew to save its best players for when it really counted. Our coaching staff knew that focus, practice and preparation would give the Saints the edge and ability to win, and refused to accept that a loss this time around would prepare the team for a better chance later on — nope, the future is NOW, and it feels damn good.
And look: a championship football team is by no means an appropriate or sufficient metaphor for a city that still has within it so many struggles. But beyond the raised money and revenue jolt, this Saints season has united our region, and the Saints fans and Louisiana natives all around the world. The team knows it is an important emblem of the city, and it’s heartening that New Orleans is in the international news for such a joyous reason. The Saints refused to pay mind to the naysayers — instead they were visionary and hardworking and saw that they could make history by coming in off a losing streak, coming in as a first-time Super Bowl team, coming in as the freaking New Orleans Saints and becoming National Champions in Super Bowl XLIV. The Colts did not lose the game; the Saints won it. Destiny isn’t fairy dust or a god playing chess. Destiny is the intersection of vision, effort, cooperation, confidence and execution. It’s buoyed by the collective positive thinking of fans in Louisiana and around the world who know, love and appreciate New Orleans for what it is. This win doesn’t fix nearly any problems, but it shows us that the past does not have to control the present. We can and must break out of old chains to claim and create an improved reality. New Orleans may be a queen city that overshadows BR, the rest of the state, and the whole Gulf Coast region, but thank goodness for her and the Saints that represent all of us. Hallelujah, laissez les bon temps, and WHO DAT SAY DEY GONNA BEAT DEM SAINTS???!!! Happy Mardi Gras y’all!
Below are some links for your viewing pleasure.
Drew Brees w/ son after win (video & pics). (I love Drew Brees so, so, SO much.)
Drew Brees on Letterman 2/8/10 (Humble, charming, endearing, and THE BEST QUARTERBACK IN THE LEAGUE)
Drew Brees more accurate than an Olympic archer? Fun analysis.