Super Bowl 2010 Champions New Orleans Saints March Home
'Who Dat' Nation celebrates the Saints first Super Bowl championship.
Feb. 8, 2010— -- The New Orleans Saints headed home today after defeating the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 to win their first Super Bowl championship. It was an emotional victory Sunday for a city still struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina.
"We gained so much strength from our fans, from the people of New Orleans, just knowing how much they care about us," Saints quarterback Drew Brees said on "Good Morning America" today. "And we take that as a sense of responsibility just to be able to give New Orleans the championship they deserve."
Fans streamed onto New Orleans' Bourbon Street Sunday night for a French Quarter celebration.
"All we've wanted to do is win a championship for them just because we know what it means for those people, those people who have been through so many hardships," said Brees, the game's most valuable player.
The Colts dominated the first quarter of the game, leading by 10 points after Colts quarterback Peyton Manning led a 96-yard touchdown drive.
But the Saints battled back. They had two field goals in the second quarter. They began the second half of the game with a successful onside kick that ended in a touchdown.
"We knew we were going to have to pull out all the stops to beat those guys. ... It was up and down, we had a slow start but we were able to pick up that momentum going into halftime with that two-minute drive and then just start the second half, the onside kick, that just goes to show you that, listen, we were there to turn it loose, leave it all out on the field," Brees said.
Brees tied the Super Bowl record for completed passes, completing 32 of 39. He now belongs to a very exclusive club of quarterbacks.
"If you make a list of the top quarterbacks in the NFL right now and you don't include Drew Brees, then you simply don't know what you're talking about," said Mike Greenberg, host of "Mike and Mike in the Morning" on ESPN.