367 days later, Minnesota disappointment is finally gone for Saints

METAIRIE – It was one year and two days ago that the New Orleans Saints cleaned out their lockers less than 48 hours after a shocking last-second loss to Minnesota in the NFC Divisional Playoffs.

They had been one tackle away from a trip to the NFC Championship Game in Philadelphia, but a defensive breakdown and an improbable 61-yard touchdown on the game’s final play gave the Vikings a miraculous 29-24 victory.

Crescent City Sports chronicled the mood that day as the players absorbed the finality of the season’s end:

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The reflection on the season and the long road awaiting the Saints going forward ended this way:

“In the not-too-distant future it’ll be warm again and the sting of how this season ended will be less acute. The Saints will be back on the field trying to earn another opportunity like the one that slipped through their fingers last Sunday.

“But on this bitterly cold January morning, that seemed an awfully long way away.”

The sun did come out again, and the Saints did put the Minnesota loss behind them. They went back to work – through off-season workouts, OTAs, mini-camps, training camp, four preseason games, 16 regular-season games and then a 20-14 victory in another Divisional Playoff last Sunday – this one against the Philadelphia team they never got to face a year ago.

And now the 2018 Saints are where the 2017 Saints never got – in the NFC Championship Game against the Los Angeles Rams.

On a mild, Spring-like afternoon Friday, that bitter and bitterly cold day 367 days earlier seemed an awfully long way away.

* * *

The countdown-to-kickoff clock in the New Orleans Saints locker room ticked down from two days to one day, 23 hours and change Friday afternoon as the players spoke with reporters for the final time before the NFC Championship Game on Sunday in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

The video-game competitions that usually take place in the center of the room were missing as were most of the players. A half dozen or so players did hold mini-news conferences as defensive back Josh Robinson and guard Larry Warford played ping-pong.

Fullback Zach Line stood in front of his locker and reflected on the mission-accomplished journey from the end of last season to now.

“When you lose a game like that you can go one of two ways: You can have fear that it’s going to happen again or you can work hard to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Line said. “The whole team decided that we didn’t want it to happen again. We wanted to come out and work.”

Coach Sean Payton said that until the Saints beat the Eagles last week they still had “that taste in your mouth and that feeling of disappointment from last year.”

Nothing short of a trip to the NFC Championship was going to fix that.

“It’s a hard game to get to, that’s for sure,” said quarterback Drew Brees, who’s in it for the third time in 13 seasons in New Orleans.

St. Thomas Aquinas wrote about faith, saying for those who have it “no explanation is necessary” and for those without faith “no explanation is possible.”

The same seems to be true when it comes to playing for a spot in the Super Bowl.

“Once you’ve been to this game it’s hard to describe,” Payton said. “So picture your most exciting thing you can envision outside of certain family things and then times it by a thousand. It’s like a drug a little bit.”

The Saints’ NFC Championship veterans – Brees, punter Thomas Morstead and offensive lineman Jermon Bushrod – have tried to guide their less experienced teammates through a season that has a featured a 10-game winning streak, a second consecutive division title for the first time in franchise history, a franchise record-tying 13-3 record and the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

“I think it’s been well communicated as we’ve hit every benchmark – don’t take it for granted,” Brees said. “Appreciate it. It takes a lot of hard work to get here.”

The message seems to have been received.

“We’ve got a lot of young guys and I haven’t been in the NFC Championship,” tackle Terron Armstead said, “but we know what’s at stake. We know how rare this opportunity is for anybody in the NFL. We’ll approach the game as such.”

Morstead was a rookie when the Saints last played in the NFC Championship after the 2009 season.

“I told (general manager Mickey Loomis) the other day, ‘I appreciate you keeping me around and letting me be a part of this,’” Morstead said.

The Saints indoor practice facility features all kinds of reminders of the Super Bowl championship after the 2009 season.

They formed an appropriate backdrop as the team loosened up for practice Friday while “Atomic Dog” by George Clinton blared.

The players stretched their legs while walking sideline to sideline. Linebacker Craig Robertson started to dance and practice squad offensive lineman Isaiah Williams and quarterback Teddy Bridgewater followed his lead.

It wasn’t exactly the Benson Boogie, but it was a Saints celebratory dance nonetheless.

The team was about to play for a berth in the Super Bowl.