i guess we'll just have to adjust.

Going into the 4th quarter, the Super Bowl had given me absolutely everything I could have wanted.  Manning and Brees were both flawless, and the Saints were pulling ahead.  Fortunately, the tide continued to trend in the Saints' favor.  Unfortunately for the Colts, it meant an embarrassing meltdown in coaching and execution, including a pick that some blithering idiots (as far as football goes, anyway) have already decided defines Manning's career.

Nothing could be further from the truth.  As Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders pointed out, we don't remember Favre by his Super Bowl loss to the Broncos.  Manning is still the greatest quarterback to play the game, and there's no doubt in my mind that he'll get another ring--if not several--by the time he retires.  Schatz's comment also served as a cagey reference to the historic similarities between the two games, which were one Reggie Wayne drop in the waning minutes from sharing the same final score (31-24).

Speaking of Reggie Wayne, let's get to some finer points:

• For all my love of Wayne, he absolutely disappeared in this game.  He was targeted eleven times, and, with one notable exception on a fourth-down slant, he couldn't produce.  Tracy Porter, by no means the Saints' best DB, shut down someone I was ready to christen the best receiver in the game.  Not to mention that Wayne's mistakes led to two of the biggest plays of the game:  not coming back to the ball on The Pick That Broke Twitter, and dropping Manning's pass in the end zone at the end of the game.
• Regardless of Wayne's struggles, Porter (and his hair) deserved MVP consideration.  Vilma did too; despite some missed tackles, he eventually intimidated Manning out of the run game (not to mention outstanding coverage the entire game).
• Is this a different game with Freeney full-speed?  Yes, but I think it's worth noting that the Saints' best defender, Jabari Greer, was out for a series and the Colts essentially got a free TD out of it.  Injuries generated points for both teams.
• Pierre Thomas will join me in paradise.
• Sean Payton, in case there was any doubt, is the best coach in the NFL.  I can't tell you how many times I've doubted him the past four years, but seeing the plan finally coalesce this year (to go along with the league's biggest pair of balls, e.g. the onside kick) removed all doubt from my mind.  He's reached the Dungy/Walsh level of reverence for me.
• Chris Brown had a great point about Payton's aggressive style, too; the NFL being a copycat league, maybe we'll have a new wave of aggro-to-the-point-of-madness gameplans in the league.  Fingers crossed.
• Jim Caldwell - yikes, man.  Peyton's call to go deep on 3rd-and-11 was ill-considered, but putting your faith in Abe Vigoda's leg strength, at a critical stage of the game, is unforgivable.  I won't say I've got Larry Coker vibes, but it's definitely worrisome.
• Roman Harper, Hank Baskett, Madam Stovatieri, and every outside linebacker in this game:  pack shit, get out.
• Both offensive lines, especially on the interior, get a huge tip of the cap.
• So do Courtney Roby, Thomas Morstead, Garrett Hartley, Chris Reis and the rest of the Saints' special teams.
• Deuce leaves with a ring.  I can't tell you how much that means to me.
• The Who looked pretty spry out there after an awful start.
• The commercials were pretty hit or miss for me.  Google killed it with their French ad, there was one good Dorito's ad out of the fifty they aired, and NFL Films made maybe the best commercial I've ever seen. 
• Finally, how nuts is it that Grizzly Bear and Arcade Fire (not to mention Stereolab) are on commercials these days?  I must have heard "Wake Up" five times during the game.  Fortunately, I can't think of a better song for the occasion.

There are more questions that need to be explored about both of these teams' futures, which I'll address as we approach the Draft.  For now, I can only cherish the victory, and bask in the triumph of the unlikely.