TheGambler

I agree with this part. I started a thread a while back saying the opportunity was there RIGHT NOW, and it needed to be capitalized on.

Let's revisit NFL history among the Super Bowl matchups over the last 10 years...

1996--Green Bay / New England...........Green Bay is one of the examples of those teams that build themselves up to the point of a Super Bowl, after falling short previous seasons. They had been to the playoffs, and finally overcame the likes of San Francisco and Dallas to reach the top of the NFC. New England, also, had been built up by Parcells. Would there be a "next season" for New England though?

1997--Green Bay / Denver.............Green Bay had built themselves up the prior year and won the Super Bowl.......Denver had been building and building, but underacheiving in the playoffs. This was finally the year they won it all.

1998--Denver/Atlanta.........Denver had been established, and won once again. Atlanta had turned their fortunes around under Dan Reeves. Would their be a "next season" for Atlanta though, after falling short in this Super Bowl?

1999--St. Louis/Tennessee............Both teams literally came out of nowhere. St. Louis wins it all. Would Tennessee build on coming up 1-yard-short and return to the Super Bowl?

2000--Baltimore/New York.........Both teams came from nothing......Baltimore wins. Would New York get back to the Super Bowl after this setback?

2001--St. Louis/New England.........St. Louis had been established a few years prior........New England came out of nowhere with Brady as QB to win it.

2002--Raiders/Bucs.........Bucs are one of those rare examples again of a team chipping, chipping, chipping and finally overcoming an obstacle and winning it all. How have the Raiders done since this Super Bowl?

2003--New England/Carolina........New England has basically established their nucleus 2 years prior. The out-of-nowhere Carolina Panthers make it a damn close Super Bowl, but fall short. Have they gotten back yet?

2004--New England/Philadelphia........New England is established, Philadelphia had been chipping, chipping, chipping but fell short.

2005--Pittsburgh/Seattle.........Pittsburgh had a monster season in 2004, and took it a step further in 2005 with a Super Bowl win (despite actually having fewer wins). Jury is still out on whether Seattle's current nucleus will take it a step further and win it all or not, but it doesn't look like it'll happen this year. I should also point out that Pittsburgh returned with basically the same team they had last year, and will be lucky to finish above .500 this year.

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So over 10 years, we can say Green Bay, Denver, Tampa Bay, and Pittsburgh have been the only teams to get a fire going, and finally bust the door down by winning a Super Bowl title. That's 4 out of 10. The rest of the teams pretty much came out of nowhere, and in rare cases such as New England, used that quick success to propel themselves to future championships. Also, look at the teams that fell short in those Super Bowls. In those 10 seasons, only New England has returned to a Super Bowl after losing (and that was 5 years later, under a completely different coaching staff, and a different QB).

This is why it is imperative for the Saints to not even worry about "next year" until next year. There is work to be done THIS year, and a golden opportunity laying ahead.