The New Orleans Saints, founded in 1966, are not a player with a long history, but in just half a century of history, this team has had a bad fate, just like the name of the team, "The Saints", on the pilgrimage road through countless thorns, bruises, and vicissitudes.

The Saints officially joined the NFL in 1970 and drafted University of Mississippi quarterback Archie Manning in the first draft — little known at the time, the Manning family would become an integral part of the history of the professional football league, and after that, the Saints embarked on their long and arduous professional league journey.

After the establishment of the team, in order to achieve better results and improve the competitiveness of the team, many coaches were changed before and after, even including the top coaches in the league, but the results still did not improve, ups and downs, stumbles.

Between 1971 and 1985, they had only one season with a win rate of more than 50% and never made the playoffs; In 1978, they had their worst record since the league's regular season was extended to 16 games, with 15 wins and 15 losses, and it was not until 2008 that the Detroit Lions broke their all-out season.

The long trough seems to have no light in sight at all.

In 1985, car sales mogul Tom Benson bought the team, and in 1986, he hired former Chicago Bears team managers Jim Finks and Jim-Mora, which became an important turning point in the history of the Saints.

In 1987, 20 years after founding the team and 17 years after joining the league, they made the playoffs for the first time in history.

Under the leadership of two Jims, the Saints ushered in the first peak period in the team's history, reaching the playoffs in 1990, 1991 and 1992, including the first division championship since entering the league in 1991, but the team slipped into the abyss again with the death of team manager Finks due to lung cancer.

From 1993 to 2006, they only made the playoffs once in 2000.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans, destroying not only the lives of countless people, but also the Saints' hopes of rising, and even the displacement of the stadium because of the severe damage to the stadium, which had to travel from one stadium to another to host their home games.

The Saints, who have never really stood at the top, are always wandering, always struggling, always suffering and tormenting.

In 2006, the Saints, who returned to New Orleans and earned the respect of the city, never gave up or left even in the most difficult times, and now the city needs them to come back and awaken hope and begin the long work of rebuilding after the disaster.

This year marked the beginning of the Saints' second glorious era.

Sean-Payton, the former assistant coach of the Dallas Cowboys, stepped in, and at Payton's insistence, they made the biggest gamble in franchise history on the free market -

Signed San Diego Charger quarterback Drew Bliss.

At the time, Brice was plagued by a shoulder injury and was not able to fully recover from surgery, and the Chargers did not offer a high-priced contract extension, so Brice entered free agency, and the Saints completed the bold and risky deal on a six-year, $60 million contract; That same year, they also completed at least three major key drafts on top of the draft, building the cornerstone of the team.

In 2006, 2009 and 2010, the Saints reached the playoffs three times, including the first and only Super Bowl in franchise history in 2009, which was also the first major conference championship in the history of New Orleans.

In addition, Bliss has completed a full-scale transformation, exceeding 5,000 passing yards in a single season in 2007, which is only the second quarterback since Dan Marino to reach such heights, and relying on accurate passing and efficient and stable play to become an elite quarterback.

Half a century of history, so short and yet so full of ups and downs, the Saints never seem to have really built a dynasty of glory, and most of the time they were a belly team, even after 2006, they were hampered by a poor defensive team, and their performance was not very consistent.

But now, the team has become the soul of the city of New Orleans, with countless fans and an integral part of the National League. As long as Drew Bruce remains with the New Orleans Saints, this is a team that no one dares to underestimate.

It's like Peyton Manning is to the Indianapolis Colts, Tom Brady is to the New England Patriots, and Aaron Rogers is to the Green Bay Packers.

In 2011, the Saints had another best season in franchise history, winning their fifth division title in franchise history. What's more, all the stats are comparable to the year of Super Bowl 2009, and even better.

That year, the Saints ranked first in the league in the offensive group and twentieth in the league in the defensive group; This year, the Saints are second in the offensive group and thirteenth in the defensive group, which is more balanced and comprehensive, and the defensive group, which has been criticized, has also shown a leading level. The 32-year-old Brice is at the peak of his career, and there is no doubt that this is the perfect time for the Saints to hit the second Super Bowl.

In the first round of the playoffs, the Saints beat the Lions at home; In the second round of the playoffs, the Saints will travel to play the 49ers.

For the Saints, it's a game where all the ambitions are made.

Few people know that the New Orleans Saints and the San Francisco 49 are old enemies, and they are old enemies whose hatred cannot be resolved, and even became a knot in the hearts of the residents of the two cities for a time; However, it was already the old yellow calendar, and even in the alliance, only a small number of old antiques still remembered that long and distant history.

After joining the League in 1970, the New Orleans Saints were divided into the League of Nations West Side, and the San Francisco 49ers were sworn enemies in the same district, until 2002, when the League rezoned the area, and the New Orleans Saints came to the League of Nations South District.

As a sworn enemy in the same district, the Saints' head-to-head record with 49 people is far behind, not only in the early long downturn, the Saints team will always be suppressed by 49 people, and there will be no day; And in the era when the Saints are gradually recovering and beginning to rise, they are still helpless against the 49ers.

In 1987, the Saints made the playoffs for the first time in their history, and after a skirmish that season and only 15 games, the Saints had a 14-1 record, and the only loss was due to the 49ers. Even when the Saints reached the pinnacle of the playoffs for the third year in a row, they led the 49ers in terms of head-to-head records.

Standing in front of the San Francisco 49ers, the New Orleans Saints never seemed to really have an advantage.

Interestingly, the glory of San Francisco's 49ers ended in 2002.

Prior to this, the 49ers were the absolute hegemons of the Western Conference of the National League, missing only four playoffs and winning 16 divisional titles in the long past two decades. At that time, the other four teams in the same division, the St. Louis Rams, New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, and Carolina Panthers, were always out of breath, and they were almost crushed in the battle record-

The only exception is the St. Louis Rams, the only opponent who can barely form a confrontation.

For the New Orleans Saints, the memories of the San Francisco 49 are bitter, even bleak, and even if they hate it, they are still helpless.

However, after the redivision in 2002, the San Francisco 49ers fell to the bottom, and the New Orleans Saints, who went to a different division, regained a new life, and won a strong six-game winning streak in the meeting between the two sides, completely reversing the decline. But even so, on the historical battle records of the two sides, the San Francisco 49ers still have an absolute upper hand with 47 wins, 24 losses, and two draws.

This year, the San Francisco 49ers and the New Orleans Saints, once rivals in the same district, are about to face each other in the first playoff game in the history of the two sides.

On the one hand, he returned to the playoffs after eight years, finally ended the long trough and found hope again; On the other hand, they have made the playoffs three years in a row, and just won the Super Bowl two years ago, and are still in their prime.

In fact, the past is no longer important for the two teams, and now the two are no longer rivals in the same area, and most of the old fans who remember the history have also passed the times, and instead of focusing on the meaningless old calendar, it is better to focus on the victory or defeat of this playoff game.

But no one can deny that as two teams with a long history that have never faced each other in the playoffs, this meeting naturally adds a special point.

Incidentally, the two teams have met once in this season's preseason, with Colin Kaepernick's San Francisco 49ers suffering a heavy defeat on the road, with a final score of "24-3".

While everyone knows that the preseason is too much of a reference to tell, that game is a reference for the next divisional game and has sparked more discussion.

Even the Saints and the 49ers themselves are full of expectations for this game, not for the focus and topic, but to fight for qualification to the next round, without deliberate hype and publicity, the smell of gunpowder has begun to quietly spread, especially the two quarterback fans, have launched their outlook on Twitter, each believing that this victory is bound to be their own.

With the progress of the wild card game, the boiling talk has not only not weakened, but also continues to climb, all the discussion and battle have multiplied several times, far exceeding the regular season, and people can really feel the madness and excitement of the playoffs.

When the wild card games were all over, Lu Ke and Logan also returned to the team on time and began to prepare for the first playoff game of their careers.