Saints making fourth straight playoff appearance this weekend

Ever since that Super Bowl 44 championship, the Saints and playoffs have gone together about as well as oil and water.

Straight ahead in sports.

- having grown up a fan of the ne- orleans saints... there's a - certain - satisfaction in knowing i lived- through a black and gold super- bowl... even if it turns out to- be... just a one-time thing.- because as the last three years- have shown us... there's- something equally dis-- satisfying... in knowing i live- through perhaps the most heart-- breaking three-year post- - season run... in professional - sports history.

- ever since that super bowl 44 - championship... the saints and- playoffs... have gone together- about as well... as oil and - water.- in each of their last six post-- season appearances... - they've been eliminated, in a - one-possession game... in all - six - of them.- in fact... the last three have- been decided, on the final play- of the- game... and most of them were s- iconically un-fortunate... they- even have their own nicknames.- in 2011, it was the beast - quake... in 20-18, it was the - minneapolis - mircale... and in 20-19... don'- even get me started, on the new- orleans no-call.- last year's overtime loss to th- vikings almost seemed - comically routine, by - comparison... so here's to- heaviest of favorites, on wild- card weekend... - holding up their end of the - bargain... against the 7-seed - chicago bears.- - "i mean listen, we've learned a lot over the- last four years.

I mean - obviously, we've had a ton of - success.

We've won a lot of - games.- we've had some unique playoff - experiences that we're going to- - - - be able to draw from and learn- from.

But at the end of the day- this is a team - that maybe - unlike- the other three - have just - found a way, despite a bunch of- crazy circumstances.

I- - - was thinking about it a little- while ago.

Like offensively,- we've had back-ups play every - position during this season, an- it's pretty remarkable when you- think about it, just the- - - - amount of contribution that eac- guy has had."

- - the saints and bears will kick- things off, at 3-40 p-m - sunday... - from the superdome... on- c-b-s... amazon prime... and- nickelodeon... first time for - everything.