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The obvious choice is 2009.

That was the only Super Bowl team in New Orleans Saints history. And they proved just how good they were in the playoffs by rolling through future Hall of Fame quarterbacks Kurt Warner, Brett Favre and Peyton Manning.

But if it's possible to just compare regular seasons, the battle for "best team in Saints history" is awfully tight between '09, 2011 and this current 2018 edition -- all of which finished 13-3 and led the NFL in point differential under the direction of coach Sean Payton and quarterback Drew Brees.



"At the end of the day, the 2009 team has to be the best team in Saints history -- right now, anyway," said former Saints offensive tackle Zach Strief, who retired last offseason and now serves as the team's radio play-by-play man.

But Strief admits it's "splitting hairs" and sounded more conflicted the longer we talked.

"Pure regular season, I'm taking '11. I think the 2011 team accelerated into the playoffs. And if that team had been better earlier in the year, we win the Super Bowl," Strief said of a team that still holds the NFL record with 7,474 yards gained in a season -- but entered the playoffs as a No. 3 seed and lost a 36-32 divisional-round heartbreaker at San Francisco.

"But I think that if this team gets on a run and wins the Super Bowl and plays to its potential, then I think that this probably is the best team we've had," Strief said. "The issue right now is that this offensive line has been so beat up [for the past several weeks] that it's kind of holding everything back.

"If this offense had maintained that type of production they had earlier in the year, then there's probably no question. I think this is the most complete team [Payton] has ever had. While that '09 team may have had more talent on defense, this is a better defense."

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