A Game of Burdens

This past Sunday, two quarterbacks who have combined for nearly 10,000 passing yards traveled a combined 1,700 miles to the site for this year’s Pro Bowl: Miami. From the Miami International Airport, Drew Brees and Peyton Manning were driven a combined 22 miles to Dolphins Stadium to watch their fellow competitors play a glorified game of touch-football.  The two gunslingers, who would have each started for their respective conference teams, stood on the sidelines in their khaki pants and Pro Bowl windbreakers, each looking as content as the other. Brees and Manning knew they would be stepping on the same field only one week later for a much more important game: Super Bowl XLIV.

For Manning, who had just won his record fourth league MVP award, heading to Miami marks his return to the site of his first Super Bowl back in 2006, a win over the Chicago Bears, 29-17. Manning was named the MVP of the game and lifted the Lombardi Trophy high above his head for all his critics to see. He also lifted that burden of never winning the big game off of his shoulders—the only thing not on his Hall of Fame résumé.
Back when the 2006 season was getting underway, as Manning was preparing to lift that Super Bowl burden off of his shoulders, a different burden was placed on the shoulders of Drew Brees.

Sept. 26, 2006, Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints stood on their home field before a sold-out Monday Night Football crowd of 73,000 at the Superdome in New Orleans. They stood side by side, where 30,000 people once called home after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in late August 2005. The Superdome, then a home to the homeless, had holes in parts of the roof that had been blown off from the damaging conditions that had hit the southern city. Some worried that the damage was too great to be fixed, and that the Saints may be forced out of New Orleans. Yet only a year later, Drew Brees and his teammates stood tall on that field; the field every New Orleans player, coach, fan, and resident would call home forever. During the home-opener, the Saints blocked an Atlanta Falcons punt and recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown.  The Stadium crowd prevented the PA announcer from announcing the scoring play for 37 seconds. The Superdome was so loud that it felt like the roof would be blown off the place.

When the crowd came to life, the burden fell on Drew Brees. He knew he would have to lead his team to a Super Bowl title to complete the New Orleans comeback. Not the New Orleans Saints comeback—the city of New Orleans comeback.

Now, on the same field where New Orleans native Peyton Manning was able to lay his burden to rest, Drew Brees will be able to do the same. Only it won’t be the weight of any doubters or of a reputation of becoming the second Dan Marino, but of carrying the hopes and dreams of a city for the past three years. If Brees wins, he, his team, and the city of New Orleans will have written a script of which Hollywood could not have even dreamed of composing.