By Pat Yasinskas

MIAMI — On the very first question of his Monday news conference, not even 12 hours after his team had won Super Bowl XLIV, Sean Payton suddenly had to face the future.

He was asked about how the Saints would respond to the challenge of following up a championship season, a challenge that’s been difficult for most recent winners. Payton would have been well within his rights to say something like, “Please, let us enjoy this for at least a day.’’

But he didn’t. He made mention of the fact the Saints have a young team and a steady Drew Brees, who now officially has joined, if not surpassed, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady on the list of the game’s elite quarterbacks. That’s a good start right there, but history hasn’t always been kind to teams that finish at the top of the NFL when they come back for the next season.

Especially teams that finish at the top of the NFC South. Prior to the Saints, the NFC South has had two Super Bowl teams. The 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers won it and the 2003 Carolina Panthers lost it. Neither came close to even getting to the game the next season.

Read the rest of the story here.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 10:27 am and is filed under National News, Saints News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.