Hours after yesterday's heart-pounding thriller in New Orleans, in which the Saints, one of the longest-suffering teams in all of sports, barely came out alive against the Minnesota Vikings, it was immediately clear what the overwhelming storyline of Super Bowl XLIV would be. Perhaps no professional sports team is more closely embraced by its local fanbase than the Saints, who before now were best known for their lackluster seasons in the 60's and 70's, results that still managed to draw fans to the stadium, albeit with grocery bags on their heads. Prior to last night, the Saints were one of only five franchises (along with the Browns, Lions, Jaguars and Texans) to have never reached a Super Bowl.

All that has changed, as the Saints are now just one game away from becoming the champions of their sport -- a result once unimaginable to people who had known them as the 'Aints. Just one year after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the city of New Orleans had lost roughly half of its population, and even the Saints were briefly forced to play home games away from the Super Dome. While some may affiliate themselves with the Indianapolis Colts, who New Orleans will face in two weeks, no fan could possibly root against the Saints, who will represent everything worthy of a Hollywood movie. In a time when the economy is floundering, what could be better than to see a downtrodden team like the Saints, representing a city irreparably damaged as it is, not only do well but actually go to and win the Super Bowl? (And just a few weeks before Mardi Gras, to boot.)

There are, of course, other aspects of Super Bow XLIV that are worth thinking about. The Colts and Saints both began the year 13-0, and record-wise this is the best possible matchup the league could produce. It also squares the two leading MVP candidates of the year, Drew Brees and Peyton Manning, against each other, and both will be fighting for their place in history -- Brees to establish himself as a future Hall of Famer, Manning to better make the case that he could be the greatest quarterback of all time.

But before we look ahead to the showdown in Miami, attention should be paid to Sunday's NFC Championship Game, which was easily the most dramatic game of the NFL playoffs so far (unlike the Cardinals-Packers game, Vikings-Saints actually featured some defense). Towards the end of the fourth quarter, when Minnesota had tied the score at 28, the Vikings were clearly playing better on both ends of the field, and had there not been any turnovers or fumbles, the Vikings may have won by double-digits. But like the 2002 Sacramento Kings, who gave away a trip to the finals when they choked at the foul line against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Vikings did everything they could to hand the Saints the game and eventually succeeded. They committed six fumbles, two interceptions and five turnovers through four quarters -- astounding considering they were actually in control at the end of the game. Adrian Peterson, who rushed for over 100 yards for the first time in nine games, had his solid performance undermined by three fumbles and a dropped ball on a hand-off that could have easily been a fourth.

The biggest product of yesterday's game, Brett Favre, now has a conflicted assessment of his latest comeback, and it's anyone's guess as to whether or not he'll retire again. When the game got to the two-minute warning, and the Vikings had the ball with the score knotted at 28, it would have been all too fitting for Favre to lead his team on a game-winning last-second drive. Prior to his initial retirement with the Packers, the final pass Favre ever threw was a costly interception in the 2007 NFC Championship Game. This time around, Favre was not only leading his team into Saints territory, he was doing it with a noticeable injury as well. But after a pair of questionable running plays and a bad five-yard penalty, the Vikings were looking at a potential 56-yard field goal on third down with less than 20 seconds left. Knowing that they still needed a little more yardage to give Ryan Longwell a decent chance, Favre attempted a pass to Sidney Rice -- who had become his favorite receiver. But Favre's pass was short, the ball was picked off, and the Vikings never got the ball back.

If that was the final pass of Favre's career, it's with great irony that it mimics the final pass he threw before he retired: an interception in a tied NFC Championship Game. As triumphant as Favre has been this season, and for all the work he did to surpass his final moment in a Packers uniform, the ending could turn out exactly the same -- just two years later.

Lost in the talk of how miserable the Saints have been over the years is that the Vikings, the Saints' victim, are just as long-suffering in their own right. While they've certainly been more competitive than the Saints historically, the Vikings have never won a Super Bowl and have lost more Super Bowls (four) than any team in history besides the Buffalo Bills, who have also lost four. Minnesota has been to three conference championship games over the last twenty years; one featured Gary Anderson's missed field goal in an overtime loss to the Falcons, another was a 41-0 drubbing to the New York Giants, and now this: a 31-28 overtime loss in a game they had every opportunity to win.

Who knows what lies ahead for the Vikings, who have zero chance of returning to the NFL's final four if Sage Rosenfels or Tarvaris Jackson is their quarterback next season. Perhaps Favre will comeback for another season at age 41, and perhaps Peterson -- whose propensity to fumble the ball makes him unarguably inferior to Chris Johnson -- will learn to hit the turf without having the ball fly from his hands. But unless the Vikings can actually go to the Super Bowl next season, this loss will be a hard one to swallow -- particularly for Favre, who if not for one or two dropped balls would be booking a hotel reservation in Miami, Florida.