So, as I understand it, this isn’t about Drew Brees, this latest Saints push for the Super Bowl that begins today in a near-empty Superdome against the Bears or somebody.

Or so they say.

Mainly Drew says it is not because he is Drew Brees, and that’s the kind of thing Drew Brees says, even when everybody in the free world knows that his legacy really needs a second Super Bowl victory and wonders if it has really been 11 years since that first one.

He was just a youngster then, 31 years old. At the time it appeared the parades would last forever, year after year.

Instead, so many chances since then, so much postseason heartache and more than a little head-scratching.

And now time is running out on the Brees Era.

If not this year, then it’s probably never.

Here is what Brees did say about it this week:

“I did not come back to play this season for myself. I came back for my team. I came back for the city. I came back for the organization. That’s why I am here.”

Unless I missed the memo, Brees hasn’t officially announced that this will be his last season.

But it’s a pretty safe assumption.

For that matter, are we absolutely certain that, once Brees does retire, the Saints won’t just take down the fleur de lis and close shop altogether.

Admit it. Can you imagine watching a timeout before a big upcoming Saints play without head coach Sean Payton conferring with the Brees on the sideline?

One day, presumably, it will happen.

But as long as Brees is still out there on his tiptoes peering over defensive linemen, he doesn’t owe the city, the fans, the organization or his teammates anything.

But they all owe him one more trip to the Super Bowl, preferably with a Lombardi Trophy, and they need to make it happen this year.

He deserves it.

His fans deserve to watch it.

Let it be all about Drew Brees if that’s what it takes. There won’t be a dry eye in the house if it happens.

This is the fourth consecutive season that the Saints are arguably the best team in the NFL, but thus far with nothing really to show for it.

And if another premature exit turns out to be anything like the last three stunners, then let us all turn our heads. It would be too painful to watch.

In each of those last three playoff adventures, Brees led the Saints to late leads only to be let down by his defense, the zebras or a cruel combination.

So you hold your breath, hoping Brees won’t again be cursed by evil forces outside of his control.

Just to recap, three years ago it was at Minnesota, the stunning “Whiff-six” when Marcus Williams mistimed his jump, flat out missed the easy tackle that would have ended the game and Stefon Diggs took in a 61-yard pass from the immortal Case Keenum for a 29-24 win on the last play of the NFC divisional playoff game.

Two seasons ago, in the NFC championship game, oh, don’t get me started. America was introduced to the wonderful adjective “egregious,” from the infamous no-call on pass interference by the Rams, who won 26-23 in overtime because of the unflagged offense, when assault and battery might just as well have applied.

The NFL still hasn’t lived that one down, but it denied Brees another trip to Super Bowl.

Last year the charges were reduced to merely “controversial” in another loss to Minnesota, this time in an NFC wild-card game. The culprit that time was on what is commonly called offensive pass interference, but in this case was a Vikings touchdown. It fell well shy of egregious but was a 26-20 OT stunner none the less.

So that’s three consecutive seasons in which the Saints were eliminated on what turned out to be the last play of the game, two of them in overtime.

Brees had done his job in all three but was an innocent bystander, helpless on the sideline when the game ended.

If life and the football gods were fair on just one or two of them, maybe we’re not having this conversation, maybe there’s not the urgency to get to the Super Bowl with Brees still at the helm.

They haven’t had many better opportunities than this season, this roster.

This year is the best defense the Saints have had to complement the 15 years of the Payton-Brees offense. It carried the team while Brees was out with 11 fractured ribs and a punctured lung.

They now have the offense completely healthy, only the fourth game this season (10 total quarters) that Brees, Alvin Kamara and Michael Thomas have all been available.

Payton will find something fun for Taysom Hill to do.

But wouldn’t you feel better if the Saints would go ahead and remove any drama from the ending?

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Scooter Hobbs covers LSU

athletics. Email him at

shobbs@americanpress.com