NEW ORLEANS — There is no denying the legacy of the New Orleans Saints in 2009 as their Super Bowl XLIV championship designation would attest.
Simply, there was no better team in the NFL.
But that team, perhaps, paled in comparison to the 2011 team that got ousted in the divisional round of the NFC playoffs, according to the two newest members of the Saints Hall of Fame, middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma and left guard Carl Nicks, who were introduced Tuesday during a noon press conference at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
“Talent wise, we were better in 2011,” said Nicks, now 32 years of age and co-owner of a real estate company in Sacramento, California. “If we had gotten past San Francisco, we would have had a chance to win the conference championship at home. Who knows how that would have played out.
“I think about that all the time.”
To borrow the time-tested refrain from former Saints coach Jim Mora — “coulda, woulda, shoulda!” But Nicks makes a valid point. He is not the first, nor will he be the last, to wonder ‘what if’ with regards to that 2011 Saints team.
Arguably, it coulda — and likely shoulda — won the Lombardi Trophy.
Let’s rewind the tape:
In 2011, the Saints finished 13-3, won the NFC South and had the San Francisco 49ers on the brink of elimination in a divisional round game at Candlestick Park the afternoon of Jan. 14, 2012. The Saints rallied from a 17-0 deficit and led 32-29 with 97 seconds remaining on a 66-yard bomb from quarterback Drew Brees to tight end Jimmy Graham.
But quarterback Alex Smith and the 49ers were not to be denied, driving 85 yards in seven plays and scoring with nine seconds left on a 14-yard touchdown catch by tight end Vernon Davis in the middle of the Saints pass defense for an improbable 36-32 victory.
As fate would have it, the upstart wildcard New York Giants went into Lambeau Field and upset the top-seeded Green Bay Packers a day later, setting up the NFC championship game in San Francisco.
Had the Saints been able to preserve that 32-29 lead against San Francisco, they would have played host to the Giants in the NFC championship game with a chance to advance to Super Bowl XLVI at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.
But the 49ers prevailed, and eventually lost to the visiting Giants who went on to upset the New England Patriots, 21-17.
That Saints’ meltdown at Candlestick Park came on the heels of an even bigger stinker in a wildcard game at Seattle a year earlier. The defending Super Bowl-champion Saints invaded Qwest Field as prohibitive 11-point favorites over a Seahawks team that had won the NFC West with a 7-9 record only to exit the Pacific Northwest on the short end of a 41-36 score.
Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch delivered the shot across the bow, scoring on an epic 67-yard run with 3:22 remaining during which he broke a minimum of nine tackles en route to the end zone.
I still can feel the stadium shake beneath my feet as Lynch powered his way through a stunned and helpless Saints defense, ultimately stiff-arming and throwing cornerback Tracy Porter to the ground like a rag doll to punctuate the moment.
I’m not suggesting the Saints should have won three straight Super Bowls, beginning in 2009. But they certainly fell short of their intended goals and failed to fulfill the potential that graced the 2010 and 2011 rosters.
The stunning loss to the 49ers at the end of the 2011 season ended up being the last meaningful game played in a Saints uniform by both Nicks and Vilma.
In March 2012, Nicks left New Orleans for greener pastures, signing a five-year, $47.5 million contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In April 2012, Bounty gate became public knowledge and ultimately served as a major disruption in Vilma’s final two seasons in New Orleans because of his alleged role in the scandal.
“To be quite honest, 2011 is a missed opportunity,” said Vilma, now 35 and a college football commentator and studio analyst for ESPN. “I look back at that season and I see the positives with all the stats. But I don’t really see the positives because we felt like we should have gone to the Super Bowl.
“It is what it is. Football is a very honest sport. If you’re supposed to be the best, then you will be the best. It just didn’t happen that year.”
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