
2009 New Orleans Saints season
The 2009 season was the New Orleans Saints' 43rd in the National Football League (NFL). As of the 2021 season's conclusion, the Saints' 2009 campaign is the most successful in franchise history, culminating with a victory in Super Bowl XLIV. The Saints recorded a franchise record 13 regular season victories (later tied in the 2011, 2018, and 2019 seasons) an improvement on their 8–8 record and fourth-place finish in the National Football Conference (NFC)'s southern division from 2008. As a result, the Saints advanced to the playoffs for the first time since 2006. For head coach Sean Payton, this was his fourth season with the franchise, commanding a club overall record of 36–24, though it also marked the first year of the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal that would ultimately result in his unprecedented (for a coach) one-year suspension from the league.With a victory over the Carolina Panthers on November 8, the Saints jumped out to an 8–0 start, the best in franchise history. They went on to set the record for the longest undefeated season opening (13–0) by an NFC team since the AFL–NFL merger, eclipsing the previous record (12–0) held by the 1985 Chicago Bears. This record has since been tied by the 2011 Green Bay Packers and surpassed by the 2015 Carolina Panthers. Despite losing the last three games of the season to finish 13–3, the team clinched a playoff berth, a first-round bye and—for the first time ever—the top seed in the NFC. The Saints defeated Kurt Warner and the defending NFC Champions Arizona Cardinals in the NFC Divisional playoffs, and proceeded to host the NFC Championship Game for the first time in franchise history. There, they defeated Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings in overtime, then went on to face Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts at Super Bowl XLIV in the franchise's first-ever Super Bowl appearance. The Saints won the Super Bowl 31–17, giving the city of New Orleans its first pro sports championship. The Saints are the first team to defeat three former Super Bowl winning quarterbacks in a row in the playoffs to win the Super Bowl, and were the only team to do so until the 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with the Buccaneers beating Drew Brees and the Saints in the NFC Divisional.
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