The bravest call I have ever seen a coach make came out of a locker room. The 2009 Saints, in the Super Bowl, opened the second half with a surprise onside kick, recovered it, and rode the momentum to the only title in franchise history. But the January run that got them there, and the one that was stolen from them years later, tell you everything about being a Saints fan.

The championship January

That 2009 postseason was New Orleans at its best, a high-scoring team finally breaking through, beating the Vikings in an overtime NFC Championship Game to reach the Super Bowl it would win. For a city and a franchise that had spent decades as the league’s punchline, it was the kind of January that rewrites how a place sees itself.

The no-call, and the quiet after

Then came the cruelest January of all. After the 2018 season, in the NFC Championship Game against the Rams, an obvious penalty went uncalled in the final minutes, a non-call so blatant it changed the rulebook, and the Saints lost a Super Bowl trip they had earned. They have not been back to the playoffs since the 2020 season. The wait has a bitter edge to it.

One glorious title, the boldest call in Super Bowl history, and a robbery that still has not been made right. Saints fans, you have a trophy and a grievance that the league itself basically admitted. From a fan who knows unfair January endings, the no-call belongs in its own category. You deserved that trip.