Road to Super Bowl was shrouded in ‘what ifs’

    It just doesn’t seem fair.
   The Giants, a team the Saints routed 49-24 in late November at the Superdome, is prepping for a return to the Super Bowl.
    I scratch my head as I pore over the stats from that game. The Saints got 31 first downs, averaged 8.4 yards per play and scored touchdowns on four consecutive possessions.
    By the end of November, the Saints were flat-out playoff locks. And, Giants head coach Tom Coughlin was supposedly in danger of losing his job if New York missed the postseason.
    In the final game of the 2011 regular season, the Giants beat the Cowboys to win the NFC East and claw their way into the playoffs.
    Based on the fact that the Giants reached the Super Bowl after a 9-7 season, it seems silly to even ask if the Saints can get back to the Super Bowl next season.
    The Saints will have to improve, especially on defense. And, they will have to have a necessary ingredient that all Super Bowl champions possess… luck.
    In New Orleans, we are playing “what if.” What if the Saints didn’t turn the ball over five times in a playoff loss to San Francisco? What if the Saints had played more conservatively in pass coverage in what turned out to be San Francisco’s game-winning drive in the divisional playoffs?
    “What if” is also being played in Baltimore and San Francisco. What if Baltimore’s Billy Cundiff didn’t duck hook a 32-yard field goal that would have sent the AFC Championship Game against New England into overtime?
    What if the 49ers’ returner Michael Williams didn’t turn the football over twice in a three-point overtime loss in the NFC Championship Game against the Giants?
    In January 2010, the Vikings played “what if.”  What if, near the end of regulation in a tie game, Minnesota didn’t break the huddle with 12 players? A five-yard penalty pushed the Vikings out of field goal range. On third-and-15 from the Saints 38, Brett Favre was intercepted by Tracy Porter.
    One hour after Garrett Hartley’s kick sent the Saints to the Super Bowl, my phone rang.
    My wife, definitely not a football fan, was on the line.
    “Hi honey, what are you doing?”
    “I don’t know Rob (Robin), I think the Saints are headed to the Super Bowl.”
    “I know, book my plane ticket and rental car. I’ll be down on Wednesday before the game.”
    “Who are you rooming with?” I asked.
    Like, I didn’t know.
    This week, my wallet won’t take a Super Bowl hit. And, next Sunday night, I will be on someone’s couch watching a team that won four fewer regular-season games than the Saints play the New England Patriots for the Lombardi Trophy.
    Ed Daniels is sports director of ABC26 WGNO. He can be reached at [email protected]