My kingdom for a healthy tailback who doesn't suck! Say, have I mentioned lately how much I fuckin' love Reggie Bush? And how I have complete confidence in his ability to carry the Saints' rushing game through the playoffs? I'm totally predicting four consecutive "breakout games" for The Reg now that the spotlight is at its brightest and he's as healthy as he's been since his rookie year. Again. (It's supposed to go something like that, right?) I sure hope he remembers to bring his wood. REG-GIE! REG-GIE! REG-GIE!

Meantime, we're not gonna waste a bunch of time recapping the Saints' half-assed effort against Tampa Sunday. I mean, sure, it was a pretty crappy 2010 farewell to the Dome crowd. And it wasn't exactly the kind of performance that inspires overwhelming confidence heading into the playoffs. But the truth is that those things were pretty far down on the list of priorities. The important thing is that Reggie finally got a genuine opportunity to stick it to the haters, and Adrian Arrington finally got the opportunity to take his first step toward Canton. High five! Priorities, people. Priorities.

Aside from that, I think that what we saw Sunday was a team that was pretty clearly just going through the motions. And not just starting in the second half either. They can say what they want about how they were trying to win and were playing their hardest on the off-chance that they could secure the #1 seed. And I'm sure that they mean it. I don't think they were half-assing it intentionally, at least not at first, I'm just saying they were in fact half-assing it. The whole time. Regardless of whether or not that was the intention.

(By the way, could I have been more wrong about Sunday? Sheesh. Don't answer that. I'm well aware of the fact that I continue to demonstrate that there's pretty much no limit to how wrong I can be, and if Sunday was a new record, it won't last long. So shut up.)

And just so we're clear, I'm not trying to use that as an excuse for Sunday's performance. To the contrary, the whole "we'll show up when we damn well feel like it" thing is really starting to piss me off. Truth be told, they've kinda been doing it all year. And I've been doing my best all year to deny it right along with 'em. Mainly because they've been saying all the right things, and I think that they truly believe what they're saying.

But after 16 games, I think the results on the field have shown that the "Super Bowl Hangover" we heard so much about early in the season is in fact an actual thing. I'd call it by a different name (more on that in a few more paragraphs) but regardless of what one chooses to call it, I'm finally at the point where I'm willing to admit that it's every bit as real as the Madden Curse. Shit!

Which is why we're not gonna waste any (more) time making a bunch of semi-baseless predictions (beyond the ones we've already made, that is) about how this thing is gonna play out. Not today, anyway. Beyond that, I promise nothing! Part of me thinks that, now that it's the playoffs and it's do or die every week, they'll finally cut that shit out and start putting their full asses into it. Another part of me fears that they're gonna strut into Qwest Field like they're the Popes of Chilitown, thinking they can bring whole cities to ruin and still have time to get a soft-shoe in, and we're all gonna be soiling ourselves in the fourth quarter. I mean, who the fuck really knows at this point?

The only thing we can really count on for sure is that Reggie's more than ready to carry this team on his back if need be. Whoa, hold on there cowboy. Don't roll those eyes just yet. That's not coming from me. That's coming from Message Board Guy, who can't go into too much detail because of his personal BFF relationship with The Reg, but whose inside sources have informed him that Reggie is about to finally get his shot as the Saints' featured tailback. Which you might have been able to suss out yourself, what with Ivory now on IR and Pierre not likely to be available also on fuckin' IR, and Sean Payton's only other options being Julius Jones and DeSean Wynn. But it's good to have rock-solid confirmation from a bona fide insider, no?

God only knows why, but for some reason, that doesn't seem to be very comforting to many Saints fans right about now. Colston's, Graham's and Jenkins' respective statuses aren't exactly helping matters either. This may come as a shock to you, but just beneath the ongoing superficial frontrunning bluster, there seems to be an undercurrent of preparation for impending doom. Oh, I know what you're saying. "From Saints fans?!? Never!!!" I swear it's true though, hard as it might be to believe.

And that's what I really want to talk about today. (Yeah, that's right. 900 words in and I'm just now getting started.) What if, by some crazy-ass confluence of nine separate (additional) misfortunes, there ain't no Two-Dat?

I mean, don't get me wrong, it's not like that's gonna happen. Three misfortunes? That's possible. Seven misfortunes? There's an outside chance. But nine misfortunes? Pfft. I'd like to see that. Let's be perfectly clear here, #wegotthis. Yes, still. We've got Adrian Arrington, for crying out loud! And don't even get me started on Mitch King. Mitch King!

But let's force ourselves to entertain the possibility for just a few hundred words, shall we? I know that it's really more of an early offseason kind of topic, and probably ought to be saved until the smoke has cleared and the chips have fallen and all that good shit. But I want to get this written out before some legitimate media type (or ten) writes it, so that when they inevitably do, I can be all smug about it.

Here's the upshot: The Saints are already playing with house money. Everything from here is just gravy.

Hell, some of us have been saying since February that everything from now on is pretty much gravy. And on some level, I can relate to that.

But Message Board Guy and Uptown Lady would beg to differ, and I can relate to that too. After all, why settle for just the one? February 2010 was fuckin' great, but I want to have some more fun now. And given that we're all pretty sure that the Saints are still more than capable of beating any team in the league, anything less than a Two-Dat would be a disappointment.

Especially if it's the result of some kind of "Super Bowl Hangover." Which, assuming it really exists in the first place, strikes as a major character flaw on the part of our heroes, right? I mean, really? You can't get up for defending your fuckin' championship on a weekly basis? You can't be bothered to put your entire ass into it unless it's Pittsburgh, Atlanta, or you're coming off a loss?

Seems that way sometimes, doesn't it? And it's frustrating as hell. But it's not like this particular phenomenon is exclusive to Our Saints. To the contrary, there's a hell of a lot of precedent for it. The "Super Bowl Hangover" is an actual thing. And the good news is that not only is it not necessarily a character flaw, it's often just another part of the process. A necessary step on the road to True Greatness.

If you're anything like me, it might make you feel better to think of the Saints as "rookie champions." The learning curve doesn't just end when you win a championship. You've then gotta learn how to deal with that. Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown and all.

The Patriots went through this too. Which is pretty convenient, being as many of us Saints fans have fancied ourselves New England's half-crazy little brother for several years now. The Patriots won their first Brady/Belichick Championship in 2001 as prohibitive underdogs against the Rams. In 2002 they went 9-7 and missed the playoffs. They went on to win the next two Super Bowls.

And what about those Rams? Another team the Saints have been compared to frequently since Sean Payton and Drew Brees arrived. The Rams won their first championship in 1999. They went 10-6 in 2000, and I don't think I need to remind you what happened to them in the wildcard game that season. High five! They went back to the Super Bowl the following season. (They didn't win it, but close enough.)

How about the Colts and The Great Peyton Manning? They won ther first championship in 2006. They went 13-3 and 12-4 the next two seasons, but were one and done in the playoffs both years. They made it back to the Super Bowl in February of 2010. Like the Rams, they didn't win it. (I forget exactly why, but for some reason I feel like I oughta be high-fiving somebody right about now.)

In 2005, the Steelers won their first championship since Chuck Noll and Terry Bradshaw. They went 8-8 the following year and missed the playoffs, and then went 10-6 and lost in the wildcard round in 2007. Then in 2008, they won another Super Bowl.

And though I'm hesitant to go any farther back than 1993 (when free agency changed the rules) I'll make an exception for "Sean Payton's Mentor" Bill Parcells, whose New York Giants won a championship in 1986, then went 6-9, 10-6 and 12-4 before winning another championship in 1990.

I could go on and on. The Cowboys of the 90s did it too, as did the 49ers of the 80s. But here's the point: "Rookie Champions" go through a "down year" the year following their championship. It's just part of the whole thing. The whole thing being winning multiple championships. As long as you've got a kickass head coach and a kickass quarterback (sound familiar?) this is nothing to worry about. To the contrary, one could argue that it's a harbinger of future success.

Especially when you consider that the 2010 Saints are doing exactly what the 2002 Patriots did. They're reloading.

If (IF!!) the Saints don't win the Super Bowl this year, it won't be long before we're looking back at 2010 as a reloading year. Not rebuilding, but reloading. Jimmy Graham, JoLonn Dunbar, Adrian Arrington, Chris Ivory, Malcolm Jenkins, Patrick Robinson, Jonathan Casillas, Charles Brown, Matt Tennant. And a whole fuckin' draft come April. Transitioning into a post-Reggie offense (in my opinion) and getting used to Drew Brees being a mere mortal. Continuing to build the defense. Becoming veterans at being champions.

This is not at all uncommon. I'd assert that it's the rule rather than the exception. And the Saints are doing it as well or better than most rookie champions do.

After all, going into this season, Super Bowl Champions had posted an overall .656 winning percentage the following year. 11-5 is a .688 winning percentage, which is above average for all Super Bowl Champions, not just "rookie champions."

Or, in other words, the Saints are already ahead of the curve, no matter what happens from here on out. So try not to throw yourself off a bridge if by some chance the Saints don't make it all the way this time, okay? It's all just part of the process.

On the other hand, fuck all that. #wegotthis REG-GIE! REG-GIE! REG-GIE!

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Oh, and if that doesn't make you feel better, there's also this (H/T to our friend @rickinhou)