30 luckiest sports franchises

28. New Orleans Saints

The New Orleans Saints had a storybook run in their 2009 Super Bowl run, and it finished out with overcoming Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts to win their lone Super Bowl in franchise history. However, it needed some luck on their side to even make that happen, and it wasn’t even just on Super Bowl Sunday.

When you Google the 2009 NFC Championship Game between the Saints and the Green Bay Packers, one of the first four results that comes up for the game is “2009 NFC Championship Game rigged”.  Many fans are still incredibly upset about the outcome of the game, mainly because of a key blown call that potentially cost the Vikings the chance to compete in the Super Bowl.

There were multiple calls in the game that went in the Saints’ favor, including one on a late third-quarter interception by Brett Favre where Favre got driven to the ground on what looked to be a penalty and a few more in overtime.

One key one came when Saints receiver Robert Meachem looked to have a catch hit the ground before he could gain full possession, but it was ruled to be a legitimate catch. Those two calls, along with a few others, seemed to loom large, and affect the outcome for the Vikings. There were plenty of mistakes on the Vikings’ end too, but fans still seem to think some luck was on the Saints’ side in the end.

Add in the fact that the Saints were saved twice by big interceptions in back-to-back games on bad throws from Favre and Peyton Manning, and it looked like the football gods were fully ready for a celebration in New Orleans.