Saints must seize rare opportunity for Super Bowl return

New Orleans Saints offensive tackle Jermon Bushrod said the memories of a divisional playoff loss to the 49ers in January of 2012 still sting.

Bushrod wouldn’t say it, but if he thought the 2011 Saints were the best team in football and a better team than the 2009 Saints Super Bowl champions, he would not be alone.

A win over 49ers would have sent the Saints back to the Superdome the next week to host the Giants in the NFC Championship.

Earlier that season on a Monday night in November, the Saints torched the Giants, 49-24. New Orleans had 577 total yards and 31 first downs.

The Saints were borderline ridiculously good (if there is such a term) on offense. In seven games, including the postseason, New Orleans scored 40 points or more.

In a stretch of the final two regular season games and the Wild Card playoff game against Detroit, the Saints scored 45 points in three consecutive games.

So, playing the Saints at the Superdome was the kiss of death. The whole league, including the Giants, knew it.

Winning two Super Bowls in three seasons would have put the Saints organization in a different stratosphere.

Call that day by the Bay against the Niners the big miss.

Jog ahead seven years later, and there’s Bushrod back in the Saints locker room. Don’t ask any more questions about 2011. And no, he didn’t believe it would take nine years for the Saints to get back to the NFC Championship game.

Which is why the Saints have to seize the moment Sunday.

Who knows if there will be another chance for the combo of Sean Payton and Drew Brees?

One Super Bowl title is a hoot, but two is a whole ‘nother world.

The Rams head coach/quarterback combo of Sean McVay and Jared Goff has a combined 56 years on the planet.

Sean Payton just turned 55 in December.

The Super Bowl window opened for the Saints again last season, when one of the greatest drafts in team history occurred. Marshon Lattimore, Alvin Kamara and Ryan Ramczyk joined other young draftees like Michael Thomas, Sheldon Rankins and Vonn Bell to form a nucleus of very talented and affordable players.

At some point, the now 40-year-old Drew Brees will retire, and all those talented youngsters in Saints uniforms Sunday will want to be paid top dollar on their second contract.

Thus, it will be tough to keep it all together.

So, if there ever was a time to win a second Super Bowl in New Orleans, this is it. On Friday, head coach Sean Payton said there is always a sense of urgency in the postseason.

Yet, you can multiply that by 1,000 on Sunday afternoon.

For the Saints, it is all there.

To not get the ring would be a squandered black and golden opportunity.