By David Elfin
For NFLPlayers.com

MIAMI—On a night that The Who rocked the Super Bowl, the team that made “Who Dat” famous won its first title.

The New Orleans Saints were in trouble early in the second quarter of Super Bowl XLIV. Their top-rated offense was scoreless and backed up deep in its own territory. But as has been the case during his four years as their star quarterback, Drew Brees rallied the Saints from a 10-point deficit, passing for two touchdowns and 288 yards as they completed their rise from the depths of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to the first championship of their 43 seasons with a 31-17 victory over the favored Indianapolis Colts Sunday night at Sun Life Stadium.

“We showed the world [that] Louisiana and New Orleans, we’re back,” exulted Saints owner Tom Benson. 

“It’s destiny,” said game MVP Brees, who signed with the 3-13 vagabond Saints as a free agent from the San Diego Chargers in March 2006. “I felt like coming to New Orleans was a calling. … We played for the entire ‘Who Dat’ nation who was behind us every step of the way. Four years ago. who would’ve thought this would be happening with 85 percent of the city under water, its residents [scattered] all over the country and not knowing if the city or the team would come back? … This is the culmination of all that belief and that faith.”

With his team trailing 10-6 at halftime, Saints coach Sean Payton had enough faith in his resilient team to take the Colts by surprise with an onside kick by rookie punter Thomas Morstead to open the second half. Chris Reis recovered for New Orleans at its 42-yard line and Brees needed just six plays, five of them passes, to give the Saints the lead on a screen to running back Pierre Thomas, who used a nifty cutback move to reach the end zone for the 16-yard score.

“It was something we had seen and worked on all week,” said Payton, who came to the Saints just five months after Katrina’s devastation. “It becomes like a turnover. As an underdog, we felt we were the better team.”

The Colts would briefly take the lead back 17-13 on the next series on a 4-yard touchdown run by Joseph Addai.

Garrett Hartley’s third field goal of the night, a 47-yarder, made it 17-16 with 2:01 remaining in the third quarter. Colts first-year coach Jim Caldwell gambled on fourth-and-2 from the New Orleans 46 and looked smart when Peyton Manning drilled receiver Reggie Wayne for 14 yards, but Matt Stover soon hooked a 51-yard field goal try left and Brees and Co. had the ball back at their 41 with 10:39 left.

Brees, who completed 16 of 17 passes in the second half, led a 59-yard scoring drive which was capped by a 2-yard scoring toss to tight end Jeremy Shockey and the subsequent 2-point pass to receiver Lance Moore, who just got the ball across for a 24-17 margin with 5:42 to go after Payton challenged the original no good call.

“Drew was magnificent tonight,” Payton said.

Four-time MVP Manning, a New Orleans native and lifelong Saints fan until getting drafted by Indianapolis in 1998, quickly moved the Colts, who were going for their second title in four years, to the New Orleans 35. The first overtime in Super Bowl history seemed very possible until Saints cornerback Tracy Porter beat Manning’s favorite receiver, Wayne, to a pass along the left hashmarks, picked it off and raced 74 yards for the touchdown with 3:12 left that sealed the upset and set off a wild celebration on Bourbon Street and all along the Bayou.

“We knew that on third-and-short … they like the outside release for the slant,” said Porter, whose interception of Minnesota’s Brett Favre forced overtime in the NFC Championship Game two weeks earlier. “It was great film study by me, a great jump and a great play.”

Manning, who was 31 of 45 for 333 yards, agreed, saying, “Porter made a great play on the ball.”

Manning, Favre and fellow Super Bowl-winning quarterback Kurt Warner of Arizona had 12 touchdowns and no interceptions in their playoff games right before facing the Saints, who picked them off four times while allowing just two touchdowns. Teams with an interception for a touchdown are now 10-0 in Super Bowls.

Manning began the game by completing six of his first eight passes for 53 yards on the Colts’ first drive that ended with a 38-yard field goal by Stover, 42, the oldest player in Super Bowl history. The Saints then picked up their initial first down when running back Reggie Bush danced 16 yards with a short pass from Brees. However two plays later, receiver Marques Colston dropped a wide-open pass at the Indianapolis 37 and the Saints had to punt the ball back.

Starting at its own 4, Indianapolis got an 11-yard catch-and-run from rookie back Donald Brown and a 16-yard draw from Addai to get out of the hole. Addai’s 11-yard run around left end kept the Colts moving and then on third-and-1 at the New Orleans 49, he burst up the middle for 26 yards. On the subsequent third-and-6, receiver Pierre Garcon got behind Saints safety Usama Young and Manning hit him in stride in the end zone for the touchdown that extended the lead to 10-0 with 36 seconds left in the first quarter.

After being dominated in the opening quarter, Brees and the Saints marched 60 yards in 11 plays, surviving a sack by Dwight Freeney—tender ankle and all—on third down to set up Hartley’s 46-yarder. After his pass on the Saints’ next play was deflected, Brees completed six straight throws including consecutive connections with receiver Lance Moore (21 yards) and Colston (27). But cornerback Kelvin Hayden thwarted Mike Bell on third-and-goal at the 1 and linebacker Clint Session and backup defensive tackle Eric Foster stuffed Thomas on the next play to maintain Indianapolis’ lead.

Hartley’s 44-yard field goal as the first half expired drew New Orleans with 10-6 and set the stage for Morstead’s onside kick and Payton’s gamble.

David Elfin has covered the NFL for two decades. He is a former President of the Pro Football Writers of America and serves on the selection committee of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.