New Orleans' recovery one step further

On Aug. 28, 2005, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin mandated a city-wide evacuation.

On Sunday night, the New Orleans Saints mandated a city-wide celebration.

Sunday’s Super Bowl XLIV win was the first Super Bowl victory for the Saints in franchise history, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

Less than five years removed from one of the deadliest and costliest hurricanes in U.S. history, New Orleans has a reason to celebrate.

From Katrina to Lombardi, the Big Easy has come full circle.

After almost five years, the city of New Orleans has made a comeback.

Signs of Katrina’s destruction still litter the city and serve as daily reminders of the natural disaster, but after more than four years and countless hours of work, the city has been rebuilt physically.

The emotional reconstruction, however, is an ongoing project for a city that lost so much.

But with their victory over the Indianapolis Colts Sunday, the Saints helped the city take a major step forward in the process of having pride in their city again.

The Saints are a part of their city in a way no other American sports team can rival. The Saints being named champions helped give the city and its people that same championship attitude.

The Saints are the ultimate comeback story of a team in the ultimate comeback story of a city.

This is a franchise that fans once called the “Aints.”

You know all those Lions and Rams fans that, in recent years, have donned paper bags over their heads at games?

New Orleans fans first started that trend in the 1980s.

From 1986 to 1996, head coach Jim Mora led the team to four playoff appearances, but couldn’t secure a single playoff win.

Even legendary head coach Mike Ditka couldn’t achieve success in the Big Easy. Ditka posted a dismal 15-33 record as the Saints’ head coach in three seasons.

Head coach Jim Haslett finally led the Saints to their first playoff victory in the 2000-01 season. He was fired after three more seasons without a playoff win, including a 3-13 record in the 2005-06 season amid the Katrina catastrophe.

Enter Sean Payton.

Payton is the ultimate comeback story of a coach for the ultimate comeback story of a team.

As a player, Payton completed 8 of 23 passes for 79 yards and one interception in the NFL. Then the Eastern Illinois product spent a season playing in the United Kingdom for the Leicester Panthers.

As the New York Giants’ offensive coordinator, Payton had his play-calling duties stripped during the 2002-03 season. His firing was immanent, but Bill Parcells welcomed him to Dallas as an assistant coach. Success with the Cowboys led to Payton’s first head coaching job with the Saints.

The 2006-07 season was Payton’s first in New Orleans, and the team’s home opener Sept. 25, 2006, was the first game played in the Louisiana Superdome since the building had housed Katrina refugees.

The Saints beat the previously undefeated Atlanta Falcons that night 23-3, Green Day and U2 performed for fans before kickoff and the game would win the 2007 ESPY Award for “Best Moment in Sports.”

The Saints were back.

Back in the Superdome and on their way back to winning days. News Orleans finished the regular season with a 10-6 record and made an appearance in the NFC Championship game.

That year was also Drew Brees’ first in Saints’ black and gold.

Brees is the ultimate comeback story of a quarterback on the ultimate comeback story of a team.

Brees extensively injured his shoulder in the final game of the 2005 season with the San Diego Chargers. A torn labrum and rotator cuff damage almost ended Brees’ career.

“He’s probably one in 100 that could come back from that injury,” said Brees’ surgeon James Andrews.

Brees said some doctors told him he only had a 35 percent chance at returning to football.

Brees beat those odds, and now all of New Orleans has overcome even bigger ones.