By: Magdiel Hernandez, Sports Dude

What does Garrett Hartley’s 40-yard field goal mean for the city of New Orleans?

It means everything. As soon as that football split the uprights in the Superdome one could almost feel the dark cloud of defeat, which has plagued the Saint’s franchise since its inception in 1967, lift and dissipate like the winds of Hurricane Katrina.

Yes, New Orleans is the franchise that has lost more games than you can count to place kicks that went wide right or wide left. But on this historic night, the Saints exorcized their football demons by beating the Minnesota Vikings 31-28 in overtime.

Nearly five years ago, the Superdome was a symbol of hurt, destruction, pain, and loss. On January 24th, it became a place of rejoicing, jubilation, and victory as the Saints’ coach and players hoisted the NFC Championship Trophy.

Though the Crescent City has seen decades of parades and festivals, this celebration stands alone. Thousands took to the streets and filled the French Quarter to proudly proclaim the unity in Who Dat Nation. Gone are the days of paper bag hats and 1-15 seasons. A new era has been ushered in and these Saints are marching on to the Super Bowl!

Bill Barrows of The Times, Picayune was in the midst of the hoopla after the game and caught this fans reaction. “The suffering in this city. The bags over our heads. The rebuilding. This all makes it worthwhile,” said Bobby Grosz, still in shock on his bar stool at an Irish Pub in Mid-City.

According to ESPN, the official Public Address Announcer, Jerry Romig, who has been there for years, proudly said to the raucous crowd in the Superdome just minutes after the winning field goal, “Ain’t this beautiful? The Saints are going to the Super Bowl!”

The irony is that the Saints used to be known as the Aints.

Do you think your franchise has had it rough? Think about this...the New Orleans Saints, born on All-Saints Day in 1966, endured 21-years of shame before they could celebrate their first winning season, 35-years to win their first playoff game, and 42-years to have a chance to play for a world championship. In the previous 42-years, the Saints and their fans celebrated a grand total of two playoff victories.

Bill Barrow also relates this fan’s reaction, “I’m a grown man, but I’m gonna cry tonight,” said Troy Rosamond of Jefferson. “I had to be here for the celebration,” he said, explaining that he was another one of the original Who Dat’s, since ’67.

Several players said they wanted to go out on the town Sunday night and join in the raucous celebration, but they were so exhausted that they decided to just stay in and watch the celebration on the local news.

However, before we crown the Saints the kings of the football world, they still have to go to Miami to play one more game against Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts on February 7.

The Saints, being the underdog for the Super Bowl, will need to be much better defensively to stop Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning, who is also a New Orleans native. The Colts’ high powered offense put up 30-points against the Jets’ top-ranked defense.

Peyton Manning is the NFL’s reining most valuable player. He has proved, over and over again, that he is a master at picking apart defenses by spreading the ball around with short passes. In two games this postseason, Manning has thrown for 623-yards and 5-touchdowns with just one interception.

The Saints, however, are giving up an average of 284-passing-yards per game in the postseason, third worst out of 12 teams.

The top seeds from each conference will meet in the championship game for the first time in 17 years. It’s only happened eight times since 1975, the last in 1993 when the Dallas Cowboys beat the Buffalo Bills in Atlanta. The Colts go into the game as a 4-point favorite, but if you’re a Saints fan the only response to that is “Who Dat?!? Who Dat?!? Who Dat say dey ’gone beat dem Saints!?!”