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Before we launch ourselves full-bore into the offseason, I think it makes sense to take a look back at Super Bowl XLIV to provide some guidance for NFC North teams. What lessons can we learn from New Orleans and Indianapolis advancing to the final game of the season? Let’s look at that question in alphabetical order. We won’t force it, so for each team I’ll choose either the Saints or the Colts for guidance:

Chicago Bears: A pressing issue: A defensive approach that has slipped from feared status to one that seems stale and passive. How New Orleans addressed that problem: By hiring defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, knowing he would shake up and energize a group that was similar to the 2008 Saints with the exception of safety Darren Sharper. Williams described that attitude change thusly: “It was a culture shock to them from the very first meeting. My aggressive demeanor in the meetings, making them defend themselves with explanations and demonstrations on the field. Every single time we stepped on the field of play in practice, it’s been a game. We had to turn that scout team mentality there on defense. “I’ve joked with [Saints coach Sean Payton] about this, because a lot of times offensive head coaches want the defense to play scout team in practice. You don’t get better on defense that way. You get worse on defense that way. We had to attack our offense. We had to challenge our offense, and we made our offense better because they had a tough time dealing with us this spring. “I tried to break their spirits and make them do physically unbelievable things from up-downs and running sprints and all these things for semi-attention deficit disorder mistakes they were making. It made them stronger. When things don’t break you in times of easiness, then they find out they become stronger later on. “I tell them all the time, ‘When you bleed more in times of peace, you’re going to bleed less in times of war.’ They kind of paid the price in minicamp, OTAs and training camp. It was remarkable to see the leaders come back and say, ‘We want more.’ When they started that swagger and attitude back at me, I knew I had them. Now I have to manage them, and that’s not easy. Our motto has been: ‘Live on the edge, play on the edge, never hurt the team.’” The Bears have already assigned Rod Marinelli their defensive coordinator duties. Marinelli won’t change the Bears’ scheme, but he would be well-advised to find a way to shake up the complacency that seems to have settled over Chicago’s once-proud defense. He has the kind of fiery personality to do so.

Detroit Lions: A pressing issue: A defense that gave up a staggering 392 yards per game in 2009. How the Saints addressed it: By making turnovers the great equalizer. For as much as Williams’ defense was celebrated this season, it still gave up an average of 357 yards per game during the regular season. That ranked No. 25 among all NFL defenses. Those totals actually got worse in the playoffs, where opponents averaged 422 yards per game. But this season, the Saints balanced that yardage by nearly doubling their takeaway total from 2008. After causing 22 turnovers that season, the Saints created 39 takeaways in 2009. They caused eight turnovers in the playoffs. That trend was no accident. Williams expected players to take risks to create those turnovers. “If you’re afraid to jump routes, if you’re not willing to play aggressively that way, you’re not going to make it,” he said. The Lions ranked No. 25 this season with 23 takeaways, including only nine interceptions. There’s no doubt they need to elevate their talent level on defense. But encouraging players to take more risks would help cover for that deficiency. They would probably give up some big plays if the risks backfire, but they were already doing that. What is there to lose by taking more chances given that dynamic?

Green Bay Packers: A pressing issue: An aging offensive line that includes probably two players -- left guard Daryn Colledge and right guard Josh Sitton -- who seem locked into starting roles in 2010. That leaves three open spots, although Jason Spitz could return as center if his back is healthy. How Indianapolis addressed it: The Colts made a change at left tackle, sliding in Charlie Johnson to replace Tony Ugoh. But to me, the lesson of the Colts is that they didn’t do enough to solidify their line and ultimately paid for it in the Super Bowl. As my AFC South colleague Paul Kuharsky noted, the Colts’ failure to convert key 3rd-and-short situations proved critical in the playoffs during the past two seasons. Kuharsky notes the Colts might want to re-think their approach to building their offensive line as 2010 approaches. The Packers could share in that lesson. Their first order of business: Develop a depth chart that avoids using starters as the primary backup at another position. As they learned last season, moving Colledge to left tackle when Chad Clifton was injured weakened two positions. Their second task: Find a long-term answer for at least one of their two tackle positions. Clifton and Mark Tauscher are both free agents. Even if both are re-signed, planning needs to accelerate for their eventual replacement.

Minnesota Vikings: A pressing issue: The conflict between their fundamental desire to run the ball and the current state of the NFL as a pass-happy league. How the Saints addressed it: By falling into a much more balanced pattern than most people realize. The Saints increased their rushing plays by about 15 percent and decreased Drew Brees’ passing attempts by about 20 percent during the regular season. The Saints, in fact, ranked No. 15 among all NFL teams in passing attempts. I know I argued several times during the season that the Vikings should recognize their offense had trended toward the passing side, and ride it as far as they could in the playoffs. But based on the way the Vikings are configured, I don’t see that as a good long-term solution. The Saints provided a paradigm for balance even while recognizing their strength as a passing team. Who would have guessed the Saints would have more running plays and pass fewer times than the Vikings? But that’s exactly what happened in 2009, and the Vikings would be wise to re-center themselves a bit for the long-term. Even if quarterback Brett Favre returns, is it reasonable to expect another career year from him? Like the Saints in 2009, the Vikings’ offense would be better in 2010 if they need to throw a few less times because their running game has offered a more viable alternative.

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MIAMI -- Three o'clock in the morning came and went while Kenny Chesney was onstage Monday at the New Orleans Saints' post-Super Bowl party. In theory, it was a moment he's been through hundreds of times: He was about to please a crowd. He donned his usual outfit, a white T-shirt and jeans, with a guitar strapped over his shoulder like a weapon. Only this time, the crowd on the second floor of downtown Miami's Intercontinental Hotel was the Saints players, coaches and staff and their families. And as Chesney approached the mike, the strange feeling embedded inside so many of those in the audience seemed to hit him, too. "The Saints just won the Super Bowl," he said. He didn't pass along those words in a rowdy way, or even emphatically, but rather as a reassuring statement of a fact that everyone knew to be true -- heck, expected all year would be true. Problem was, of course, that it still seemed so hard to believe. Was this for real? The Saints had gone 42 years without a title. The 31-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV on Sunday seemed surreal. A few hours later, Drew Brees, the game's MVP and surely the most-loved quarterback in America, would wake up and turn to his wife, Brittany, and ask, "Did last night really happen?" It did. Of course, the reasons the feelings of suspended disbelief existed were easy to understand. The Saints were tagged as the lowly underdog; almost everything associated with post-Katrina New Orleans carries the weight of struggle. But in reality, the Saints were not only the better team Sunday but also the better team all season. But that's the magical thing about the Saints in general and the city of New Orleans in particular: They simultaneously can be considered underdogs and superstars. They are both Who Dat and All Dat. Busloads of fun The party began around midnight, when five huge buses carrying the team turned right off Biscayne Boulevard, passing rows of screaming fans piled three-deep, all of them clamoring for the red wristbands that allowed entrance into the impending raucousness in the hotel. The Vince Lombardi Trophy was, fittingly, in Bus No. 1. On board, the players were linked by the rare bond forged when a group of special people -- many of whom are among the best in the world at what they do -- act as if they're lucky just to have a job. When Reggie Bush walked into a bus with his family, he asked, "Is there room for us?" Most superstars would demand room. Not Bush. He politely asked. And, of course, there was. The vibe continued inside. The Saints are a community within a community; it's hard to imagine another place on earth Sunday night that could make you feel more welcome. CNN political commentator and New Orleans resident James Carville hugged folks. His wife, fellow CNN politico Mary Matalin, offered their home to people she had just met, an open invitation for the next time they're in town. World-class chefs offered tables at their restaurants to fans for free. This is how celebrations work in New Orleans. The tourists crash Bourbon Street; the locals open their arms. Of course, the Saints thought they were the ones who needed to give back. After every practice leading up to the Super Bowl, the players returned to their hotel rooms and were greeted with a gift of some sort, a care package. Obviously, the fact that the Saints were playing in their first Super Bowl in team history was on everyone's mind, not just in Miami (where Saints fans outnumbered Colts fans by at least a 10-1 ratio), not just in New Orleans, but also across North America: Super Bowl XLIV was the most-watched TV program in U.S. and Canadian history. The storyline was predictable: The scrappy Saints, the plucky overachievers, were facing the best player in the game, Peyton Manning. What was lost during the week, but was painfully obvious Sunday, is that the Saints weren't overachieving at all: They're actually really, really talented. That's why, on the morning of the game, coach Sean Payton didn't show his players a clip from "Rocky" to get them pumped up. No, he played a highlight reel from their season, reminding them of the greatness they already have achieved. The Super Bowl victory was technically an upset, but to the Saints, it was a natural progression. Just past 1 a.m., Payton took the stage. He held up the Lombardi trophy to the applause of the crowd before handing it to Rita LeBlanc, the Saints' whip-smart part-owner and executive VP. Payton asked his players to stand behind him and asked everyone in the room to raise a glass. "To the Saints," he said to the crowd. "Salud," Rita said. "Salud," the crowd replied.

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If you guys screw this up, we're going to make you tongue-clean the French Quarter streets after the New Orleans Saints' victory parade. Police horses included. We're going to have you explain to each person inside and outside of Sun Life Stadium on Sunday evening why the Super Bowl might go away in 2012. We're going to demand your resignations if you deprive us of this league, these Super Bowls and these kinds of moments. Can you imagine had a labor lockout cost us the football miracle known as the 2009 Saints? Don't do it, fellas. Don't shut down the NFL because your greed glands became enlarged. If it's not broke -- and we know the owners' wallets are anything but broke -- don't fix it. NFL commissioner Goodell and NFL Players Association executive director Smith saw what everyone saw Sunday night: a game, a Saints team and a history lesson to remember. This was the Saints' first championship. It was their first anything involving the Lombardi Trophy. Wait, that's not completely true. Less than four hours before kickoff, the Saints' Tracy Porter was sitting in a chair as his personal barber turned the cornerback's scalp into a work of art. He shaved out a Lombardi Trophy, the Superdome and SB 44 on Porter's head. A hair road ran from the Superdome to the trophy. The whole thing cost Porter $40 "and a nice tip.'' So what if he missed the first team bus to the stadium. He was there in time to jump a Peyton Manning pass to Reggie Wayne, return it 74 yards for the game-clinching touchdown and instantly increase alcohol consumption in The Quarter tenfold. "I have to say this team means more to the people of Louisiana than any team in the NFL,'' said Porter. "No one is behind this team as much as the people of New Orleans. They're just as much a part of this victory as we are.'' Hear that, Goodell and Smith? Your ridiculous posturing over revenue sharing threatens the very thing that helped sustain the city of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The Saints are partly responsible for New Orleans recovering its heart, its soul and its confidence again. What Katrina took away, the Saints gave back. "What can I say?'' said Saints quarterback Drew Brees, the Super Bowl MVP. "We played for so much more than just ourselves. We played for our city. We played for the entire Gulf Coast region. We played for the entire Who Dat Nation who was behind us every step of the way.'' Silly as it might sound, football matters to people. Matters more than it should sometimes. Other times -- like in New Orleans -- it matters just the right amount. It revives. It puts a smiley face on a community. It makes believers out of doubters. "Absolutely,'' said Brees. "Are you kidding me? I mean, four years ago, whoever thought this would be happening? … We just all looked at one another and said, 'We're going to rebuild together. We're going to lean on each other.''' Brees was talking about the Saints, but he could have been talking about New Orleans, too. Goodell, this is what your NFL owners need to understand. Smith, this is what your player constituency needs to comprehend. Had there been a lockout this season, the Saints' season would have never existed. Their 31-17 Super Bowl upset would have never happened. Think about it: No Brees completing a Super Bowl-tying 32 pass attempts for 288 yards and two touchdowns. No poignant postgame moment of Brees holding his young son as the celebration unfolded. No Jeremy Shockey TD moment. An injured (and soon-to-be ex-)New York Giant in 2007. A Super Bowl touchdown reception for the Saints in 2010. No game-changing onside kick (and recovery) by the Saints to start the second half. So well-conceived was the play, that Thomas Morstead made sure that his last warm-up kick during halftime was a boomer toward the end zone. He wanted to lull the Colts into thinking an onside play was an impossibility. No Sean Payton calling for the stunning onsider. No Payton going for it -- and missing -- on a fourth-and-goal at the Colts' 1 late in the first half. No Porter interception return. No Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney playing on one ankle. No Colts running back Joseph Addai nearly breaking Saints safety Darren Sharper's ankle on a fake. No Manning saying, "It's the Super Bowl. You never know how it's going to turn out.'' No Gregg Williams-conceived defense proving Manning right. No upset. No Colts center Jeff Saturday gracious in defeat. "Those guys played fantastic,'' said Saturday. "They deserved to be world champions.'' No Saints come marching home. Think long and hard about what you do next, Goodell and Smith. What was here today -- a Super Bowl that meant something -- could be gone tomorrow. Over money. You want that to be your legacies? Sincerely, The non-millionaires and non-billionaires

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For the past year, and especially over the past few weeks, we have heard a lot about the past decade. There have been all-decade teams named by numerous media outlets and one by the NFL. Those have been all-star teams patched together from across the league. And when people talk about the 2000s, they usually talk about the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts as being the best teams of the decade. That is understandable because those teams have won a bunch of big games and were the closest things we’ve seen to modern dynasties. But instead of looking back on the past decade, let’s spin it ahead to the next. “Hopefully, in a few years, people are talking about the New Orleans Saints as the team of the next decade,’’ New Orleans center Jonathan Goodwin said. The Saints as the team of any decade? Yeah, their history isn’t that great and Sunday marks the first time this franchise has been in a Super Bowl. But give it a little thought and maybe Goodwin’s wish isn’t that far-fetched. The team that used to have fans wearing bags over their heads and calling their team the “Aints’’ isn’t what it used to be. These Saints aren’t some kind of one-year wonder. They’re for real and what has been the season of a lifetime for fans all around the Gulf region might only be the start of something bigger. This team has the chance to be very good for a very long time. “This team has that kind of potential, no question about it,’’ veteran linebacker Scott Fujita said. “This is our first year really on the big stage. We’ve got to take care of this one and then we’ll worry about next year.’’ Fujita and his teammates have to focus on one game right now. But we have the luxury of looking ahead and people around the league, particularly those who have to compete most often against the Saints, are worried about them perhaps being in the early stages of a dynasty. Take the Atlanta Falcons, for instance. They’ve long been considered New Orleans’ biggest rival and that rivalry may be better than ever over the next few years. The Falcons have put together back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in franchise history and, with Matt Ryan heading into his third year as the starting quarterback, the future appears very bright for the Falcons. But everyone in Atlanta is well aware the Falcons probably will face a mighty obstacle in the NFC South over the next few years. “The Saints have done a really good job in building that team,’’ Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff said. “In my opinion, this league is really all about personnel moves and the Saints have made some great personnel moves. Having a quarterback like Drew Brees is incredibly important. That’s the biggest thing of all. But they’ve got even more than that. They’ve got incredible athletes like Reggie Bush and Marques Colston and some of their defensive players. They’ve got all the parts in place to be good for a long time.’’ As Dimitroff said, simply having Brees makes the Saints a legitimate threat to win any game they play. His numbers compare well to those of Indianapolis’ Peyton Manning and New England’s Tom Brady. In 2006, his first season with the Saints, Brees took his team to the NFC Championship Game. Just about everything else that could go wrong did over the next two seasons, but Brees was still good enough to keep the Saints around .500 and in playoff contention. When the Saints gave him a little bit of defense and a running game in 2009, Brees led New Orleans to 13 straight victories to start the regular season and two very impressive playoff victories. “With the way Drew works and takes care of his body, he could have another five or six years like this left in him,’’ Fujita said. Five or six years of Brees pretty much guarantees the Saints won’t just crumble any time soon. But there are so many other parts in place that you have to believe the Saints aren’t going to take any big steps backward even if they have some major injuries. Just look at the draft class of 2006, the first season coach Sean Payton and general manager Mickey Loomis worked together. It featured running back Bush, strong safety Roman Harper, guard Jahri Evans and receiver Colston. Evans already is being recognized as perhaps the best guard in the NFL and Colston, a seventh-round pick, is generally viewed as an elite receiver. Harper has blossomed into a very solid safety. Although Bush may never truly live up to the hype that came as a Heisman Trophy winner and No. 2 overall pick, he’s had moments of brilliance in his hybrid role as a running back/receiver/return man. That draft is shaping up to be perhaps the best in Saints’ history, and Payton and Loomis haven’t fared badly in the drafts that followed. Players such as receiver Robert Meachem, defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis and guard Carl Nicks already have developed into core players, and defensive back Malcolm Jenkins, a first-round pick in 2009, soon could join them. “We’ve got good players on the line and the skill positions,’’ Goodwin said. “I think it’s possible that we could stay at a very high level. I believe in this team and I believe in this organization. A lot of the guys are still pretty young and they’ll only get better.’’ The same thing might have been said after the 2006 Saints reached the NFC Championship Game, but they slipped the next two seasons, mainly because of injuries. There also is the history of the NFC South, where no team has won the division in back-to-back years. But the current Saints might be set up in a way where they’re poised to break that streak and stay on top for a long time. “I think we’ve learned what it takes,’’ Goodwin said. “We got to the NFC Championship Game the first year, but I don’t know that we really realized what it took to get there. The last two seasons, it kind of slipped. Coach Payton reminded us about some of the things we did in ’06. In ’07 and ’08, we didn’t finish games well. That’s why we wanted to improve on finishing games this year. We lost a lot of close games and we felt like if we could eliminate mistakes, we could win those close games.’’ Consider all that part of the growth process. But also consider that the Saints were able to get this far this season with some pretty major injuries. They played all season without Pro Bowl left tackle Jammal Brown and survived a stretch when starting cornerbacks Tracy Porter and Jabari Greer were out with injuries. “The ’06 year was something magical,’’ Evans said. “We took the NFL by storm. We had some injuries the next couple years, but here we are in the Super Bowl and now we’ve got to stay here. The injury stuff is something you can’t really control. We just couldn’t get a streak together. You’re going to have adversity like that and it’s really about how you respond to it. I think we’ve learned from that and learned to handle adversity better. If we can keep doing that, we can stay on top.’’

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Taped to the side of Ryan Lilja's locker is a newspaper clipping that features the smiling mug of Indianapolis Colts center Jeff Saturday. It's a bank ad with a Grizzly Adams-looking 295-pound pitchman, and the linemen think that's kind of funny. "We joke about him, that he's kind of a media, uh … I don't want to say the word," Lilja said. "We're offensive linemen. We don't get a lot of attention, but Jeff seems to. So he's kind of a playboy." Maybe it's fitting that the man who has snapped the ball to Peyton Manning for the past 11 years should get his cut of the limelight. Saturday has his own action figure, which means some of the linemen had to buy it, just to tease him even more. (Lilja's Saturday action figure, by the way, is missing a plastic foot). He's featured in one of Manning's latest commercials for MasterCard, and he signed a $13 million contract extension with the Colts last year. And if you ask Manning, Lilja or anyone else on the Colts' offense, he's worth all the adulation. Manning might call the plays, but Saturday is clearly the boss of an offensive line that kept the quarterback virtually unscathed in 2009. Manning was sacked just 10 times, and, year after year, is one of the least-touched quarterbacks in the league. "I'll always be indebted to what Jeff has done for me, just protecting me as a quarterback," Manning said. "I feel very comfortable with him right in front of me. "Every time I make an audible, Jeff kind of has his own audibles after that. He makes those calls and then he has to go block a 320-pound noseguard. So I have never taken him for granted. I stay real close to him." So close that their lockers are right next to each other and they sit side by side on plane rides. Manning and Saturday are golf partners in the offseason and communicate constantly in-season. Asked earlier this week whether they're kind of husband and wife, Saturday cracked, "If he's the wife, that would be very accurate." Teammates say Saturday knows as much about defenses as Manning does, and that's saying a lot, given the quarterback's reputation for nonstop preparation. Saturday is the voice of the linemen in meetings, and he tells the coaches what works and what doesn't. Saturday's words hold a lot of clout, Lilja says. And his chemistry with Manning is crucial. The center-and-quarterback relationship, New York Jets center Nick Mangold says, takes time and practice. They have to be in sync and, in Saturday's case, be able to decipher Manning's no-huddle shuffle, the flailing arms, the last-second adjustments. Saturday and Manning have started 154 games together, which is just three shy of the NFL record set by Jim Kelly and Kent Hull of the Buffalo Bills. "I think you've got to have a good relationship," Mangold said of the center-quarterback relationship. "If you don't like each other, I think it'd be a rough one. You spend so much time together, and the things you do are so crucial to every play. "It just seems like [Saturday] has such a grasp of what they're doing as an offense that he's able to do things without having to check with anybody. He can just do it on his own." It seems funny, now, that Saturday almost ended up doing something else. He went undrafted out of North Carolina in 1998, got signed by the Baltimore Ravens, then cut that summer. He was out of the game that fall but lifted weights just in case a team called. The Colts rang in December. Many times that year, Saturday wondered whether his football career was over. He got a job selling electrical supplies in Raleigh, N.C., a decent gig with one exception: The guy he worked for was a Duke grad. "I had worked for seven months there or whatever, but I was OK with where I was," Saturday said. "I had a good job. I was comfortable with what I was doing. It just wasn't going to be football." Back then, the biggest knock on Saturday was his size. At 6-foot-2 and a shade lighter than 300, he wasn't a prototypical NFL center. Then again, nobody on this Colts line fits perfectly to type. Three of the starters weren't drafted, and the newest addition -- guard Kyle DeVan -- was earning $100 a day as a substitute junior high school teacher last year. DeVan and Saturday have talked about it -- not being able to play football, not knowing what comes next. Saturday told the youngster that it's great that he made it. "But now you've got to stay here," Saturday told him. "That was the biggest advice I really took in," DeVan said. "Keep working hard, keeping getting better. Because someone else is coming in behind you." Eleven years, two Super Bowl trips, and Saturday has been the rock of the offensive line. He's confident and assertive enough to tell Manning exactly what he thinks; he's playful enough to keep things fun for the big guys. Sometimes, Saturday and his pals liven up the team meetings by flicking their fingers at the back of rookie quarterback Curtis Painter's head. The Colts are having a good time, and Saturday is at the center of all it. Now if only he could fix the foot on that action figure … "He's got a little ankle issue," Lilja said, jokingly. "I think he's down two to four [weeks]."

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Toss your bottle of water, put your bag on the conveyor belt, walk slowly through the scanning device and raise your arms for the pat-down. No, you're not at the airport getting ready to board a flight to Miami. You're entering Sun Life Stadium for Sunday's Super Bowl XLIV amid heightened security and watchful eyes of dozens of surveillance cameras. While fans might expect such scrutiny for a high-profile event, security and anti-terrorism experts say that what happens Sunday is only a precursor of what's to come at all NFL stadiums and other sports venues across the nation in the next few years. "After 9/11 it became so vividly apparent that our enemies would be attracted to our events for a host of reasons," said Milt Ahlerich, a former FBI executive who was hired by the NFL in 1996 to oversee security. Renewed proof of that threat came last fall with the arrest of a suspected terrorist with links to al-Qaeda. His alleged plans to detonate explosives in and around New York were reported to include sports venues, prompting the FBI to alert officials at Giants Stadium of a possible threat. Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan man who had been living in Colorado, pleaded not guilty to terrorism conspiracy charges and is awaiting trial. His father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, was indicted Monday in federal court on charges that he lied to investigators. The recent attention on sports stadiums as targets also led the Department of Homeland Security to hold a meeting in New York with representatives from the all the major sports leagues in December. The possibility that terrorists could be eyeing sports venues isn't lost on fans either, including Hans Steiniger, a 34-year-old electrical engineer in Sterling Heights, Mich. "If a terrorist organization is really trying to strike at the heart of American culture, doing something like putting a bomb in a professional sports venue and creating that kind of disruption is the type of the thing that really would hurt our way of life. … It would really strike at the heart of what America holds dear," Steiniger said. "It's certainly a concern. If we're talking about it, it's not a mystery to any terrorist out there." Steiniger knows a thing or two about football stadiums and national security. He maintains a Web site, www.nflfootballstadiums.com, dedicated to his four-year trek to visit every NFL football stadium in America, which he finished last year by driving from Detroit to New Orleans with his wife on Christmas Day to catch a Dec. 27 game at the Superdome. When he's not traversing the country looking for the next tailgate, Steiniger helps oversee the design and construction of military concept vehicles -- think off-road, super heavy-duty, remote-controlled, weapons-equipped soldier savers -- for a small government contractor in Detroit. Steiniger's awareness might make him one of the more accommodating fans when it comes to the sometimes 30-minute security lines at the gate, where even he sees opportunities for improvement. "They pat down every single fan. They check your belt line, your shoulders, your back. This situation in Detroit is a little troubling, where the gentleman put some kind of explosive in his boxers," Steiniger said, referring to the Christmas Day attempted bombing of a commercial airline as it landed in Detroit by a passenger who had explosives sewn into his underwear. "[Stadium security officials] are not at the point where they're checking those areas. That's a potential problem."

The solution to keeping terrorists toting bombs in their briefs out of a football stadium might be in Hattiesburg, Miss., a city whose Web site boasts its many accolades for being one of the best places to retire, and is, coincidentally, the on-again-off-again retirement residence of Brett Favre. Super Bowl Security Screenings at Sun Life Stadium will be tight. The NFL asks fans to minimize the number and size of items carried inside. Items will be inspected, and everyone entering will be subject to screenings -- including metal detectors, pat-downs and other checks. Fans who don't consent won't be let in. Small bags, subject to check, will be permitted but binocular and camera cases, among other items, will not. Fans are urged to carry nothing larger than a small purse or bag. Prohibited items include: weapons, fireworks, camcorders, umbrellas, strollers, beach balls, Frisbees, poles, sticks, laser lights and pointers, containers, coolers, backpacks, bottles, cans, hairspray, camera cases and binocular cases/tripods, mace or pepper spray, banners, noisemakers, horns. Small cameras and binoculars are allowed. Cameras with lenses longer than 6 inches are not. Electronic devices such as cell phones, pagers, TVs, radios, personal computers and PDAs will be inspected. Temporary flight restrictions will be in place, prohibiting private aircraft from operating in a large radius around the complex. No blimps or other aircraft will be allowed to circle. There will be a military flyover during the performance of the national anthem. Parking lots open at 11 a.m. ET. Fans can tailgate but may not take grills. Fans may not take up more than one parking spot, and tents are prohibited. A fan plaza will open at 1 p.m. on Sunday for Super Bowl ticket holders only. Stadium gates open at 2 p.m., and in-stadium festivities begin at 5:30 p.m. Only people with tickets or credentials will be allowed within the security perimeter around Sun Life Stadium. Everyone entering the stadium, including children, must have a ticket. Fans cannot re-enter the stadium once they leave. Fans can go through any screening point on the perimeter and proceed to the gate marked on their tickets. People in wheelchairs and their companions must have tickets designated "wheelchair." -- Source: NFL

This southern town of 50,000 people is also the home of the University of Southern Mississippi, where some of the most cutting-edge research in sports stadium security is under way at the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security. The center is bringing together all the major professional sports leagues, the NCAA and government security agencies for a first-ever sports security conference in August in New Orleans. "Do stadiums and arenas today have the best physical protective measures, cameras, access control, proper credentials? Have they put up the right outer perimeter? There's a whole array of checklist procedures and policies that have to be in place," center director Lou Marciani said. "Does everybody do that? Research tells us we don't." Marciani added that college stadiums expose the biggest gaps in vulnerability. The center has developed training programs for everyone from police officers patrolling concourses to the hot dog stand worker who can keep an eye out for odd behavior. But Marciani said technology really holds the key to stronger security. The ideal scenario would be a walk-through scanner that is able to detect explosives, chemicals and weapons and would flash either red or green to indicate whether a fan can enter the gate, he said. "That's the dream of all the vice presidents for security of the major leagues," he said. "Better technology at the gates, better sensors away from the stadium, back in the tailgating area, back at the train station, bus station, parking lot. That's the future." The goal is to "harden the target" -- that's anti-terrorism speak for improving security -- through technology without turning game day into a trip through the Transportation Security Administration line at New York's LaGuardia Airport. "Sports people are sensitive to that," Marciani said. "It's not going to be LaGuardia. We don't need LaGuardia for Yankee Stadium." Yet the Department of Homeland Security -- the same folks who run those TSA lines -- is heavily involved in sports venue safety, providing about $5.1 million of the center's $7.8 million in government grant money. On Monday, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano and her crew toured Sun Life Stadium and met with other law enforcement agencies at the appropriately named "JOC," or joint operations center. With her was Todd M. Keil, assistant secretary for infrastructure protection. When Keil sits down in a stadium, even as a fan, his eyes stray from the field to the stands, where he tries to pick out the hidden cameras and scans the crowds for anything suspicious -- often catching the eye of his wife instead, who has to remind him to watch the game. From a fan's perspective, Keil is also sensitive to the inconvenience that fans experience when security slows them down or becomes too intrusive, which is one reason he's interested in innovations that would weed out security threats far from the gates. Devices that can detect chemicals and explosives at a distance, license-plate scanning and facial-recognition software are all in the works, he said. One of the high-definition video surveillance packages tested at the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security last fall can identify suspicious behavior in vehicles from 1,000 feet away. It can also positively identify someone's facial features at 300 feet. Keil added that newer stadiums are being built with special security features such as shatter-resistant glass or structural supports that would mitigate the effects of a bomb blast designed to cause a progressive collapse. "The tip of the iceberg is what fans see," he said. "What is going on underneath the surface is much larger and much greater." It's unclear exactly how much of a benefit fans will see through new technology in terms of shorter waits at the gates. Ahlerich, the head of NFL security, said he hopes someday that screening devices will eliminate the need to conduct pat-downs, which some fans find intrusive and time-consuming. Checking vehicles for explosives is also a lengthy process that requires individual stops in which a security officer has to open up the trunk and run a dog around each car, he said. "Technology will catch up there," Ahlerich said. Whether better vehicle screening would have let the NFL loosen up its parking restrictions for Super Bowl XLIV is unknown. Officials have limited some parking and curtailed tailgating in the lots around Sun Life Stadium for Sunday's game. Steiniger, the uber-fan from Detroit who scored a free ticket to Super Bowl XLIV, said he knows people aren't happy about having to leave their grills and kegs at homes, but most of them understand. "9/11 has really put us into a state where we comply rather than complain," he said. "We're ready to comply." And if that means scoping out a local bar to hang at before the game instead of toting a six-pack around a parking lot, Steiniger figures so be it.

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Here’s Howard Mudd’s plan: After the Super Bowl, he’ll go back to Indianapolis, then spend some time in Arizona. And the next time he reviews film, it won’t be from the coaches’ tape of Super Bowl XLIV on Feb. 7 against the New Orleans Saints. Instead, it will be from the long-lensed Nikon camera that’s hung around his neck for the last week of his NFL career. Mudd snapped a picture as he walked off the Indianapolis Colts' plane Monday and more at Tuesday morning’s annual media circus. “In case it turns out to be a nice picture to remember the event itself,” he said. “It is the last one, but it’s also a big deal. At the media day [of Super Bowl XLI] I had my wife’s camera and I had it on video and it was supposed to be on still, I screwed it up some.” The Colts' storied offensive line coach will call it a 40-year career as a player and coach after Super Bowl XLIV. Unlike many grizzled veterans before him, he’ll be free from temptation to return. Pete Metzelaars, the heir who will replace him for the Colts, knows things will never be the same. “I think they’ll be a little softer,” linebacker Gary Brackett said. “I don’t think anyone is as hard as nails as Howard, that’s really old-school coaching at its finest. I guess he played a while in this league and was a very tough, aggressive lineman. And that’s exactly what he does for his linemen.” Mudd played as a lineman for the San Francisco 49ers and Chicago Bears from 1964-71. He has coached in the league since 1977 for San Francisco, Seattle, Cleveland, Kansas City and, since 1998, Indianapolis. That happened to be the year the Colts spent the No. 1 pick in the draft on Peyton Manning. Mudd said he’s pleased to have played any small part in the career of the quarterback, a player his unit has made sure is rarely on the ground. (Ryan McCrystal of ESPN Stats & Information tells me that since sacks became an official stat in 1982, no one has endured more sacks than former Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway with 516. At his current pace, Manning -- who has suffered 215 sacks in 196 games -- would break that record at some point during his 29th season in the league, just before his 50th birthday.) While he might appear gruff, Mudd can be a sweetheart. He’s a motorcycle aficionado. Mudd wants nothing more in retirement than to dote on his grandchildren in the Seattle area, get more fit and ride, wet roads be damned. Maybe he’ll get better with that camera, too. Over the years, his lines have worked to fend off some pretty good pass rushes from division rival Tennessee. As a result of those matchups, he forged a friendship with Titans defensive line coach Jim Washburn. The friends rode their motorcycles together through Africa last summer. Washburn raved about Mudd’s inventiveness as a player, when he figured out ways to slow down the likes of Hall Of Famer Merlin Olsen despite being overmatched. Basically, Mudd said, his ploys were spin moves or unconventional routes to regain position and sometimes pushes that carried Olsen or another rusher right past the play. “I’ve seen a few clips, they were black and white,” Colts guard Ryan Lilja said. “He ran around and it’s funny to see him do the same thing that he teaches us that not a lot of people do. He was a gritty player, man.” Washburn makes a much broader declaration: “Name me one head coach in this league that’s as good a coach as Howard Mudd. You know what the answer is? Well, there are none of them. That’s it. There is not one coach in this league as good as Howard Mudd, not one head coach that’s near as good as Howard Mudd. Not close. … “He thought outside the box before outside the box was a saying. He’s a creative guy. He could have gone to law school, he could have been a doctor. He thought about both of them coming out of college. He’s not your typical person.” Gregg Williams has been plotting since the NFC Championship Game for ways to beat Mudd’s line and protection schemes. The Saints defensive coordinator fondly remembers his first encounter with Mudd and has harkened back to it during game planning. Williams was a high school coach in Kansas City, Mudd was offensive line coach for Marty Schottenheimer with the Chiefs. “The first time I ever heard anybody talk about the inside and the outside zone, it was Howard Mudd back in the mid-80s,” Williams said. “It was a unique thing how he was teaching the footwork and the whole zone blocking concept. “I never forgot that. In fact, I just ran across those notes in my file against last week. And every single time I play the Colts … I’ve always pulled those notes out. They still hold true.” Mudd can sit on the sideline with Manning, figure out what a defense is doing and solve a pass rush scheme in one series while Indy’s defense is on the field. Lilja said Mudd watches more film than anyone he’s ever know aside from Manning. The Colts’ starting line is composed of three players who were not drafted (Jeff Saturday, Lilja and Kyle DeVan), a fifth-round pick (Charlie Johnson) and a fourth-round pick (Ryan Diem). Johnson and DeVan both ousted second-rounders from the lineup, where understanding and production, not status, dictate who plays. “I just kind of point them,” he said. “Players have to play better than you can coach them. I can tell them how to do the job. They have to reprocess that and make it better and they do that and I respect the intelligence of the players that I coach, their resourcefulness, their heart. They fight.” He will miss the camaraderie, with players, coaches, equipment men, everyone. But it’s time for what’s next before there isn’t time left for it. “I’ve watched other coaches, players,” Mudd said. “I’d like to walk away when I feel like I’ve got something left and still not have given everything I’ve got and they usher you out the door and say, ‘it’s about time you did something else.’ Maybe I beat them just by a year or two. Are there more things that I’d like to do? Sure. “My wife [Shirley] and I talked. We’ve had a really good run, football’s been good to both of us. We can walk away from it knowing it’s been a good life. In Seattle we have all the grandchildren. I got good advice, someone said 'don’t do anything specific and let it come to me.'” First, if things go as the Colts intend on Sunday, his players will come to him. Some sort of big sendoff will be in store. “We’ll be celebrating with him that he went out the right way,” Diem said. “I am not sure what that will entail yet, but I am sure it will be pretty awesome.”

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The Colts and Saints arrive in Miami on Monday, when the hype for Super Bowl XLIV will kick into high gear. Eager to do our part, we locked NFC South blogger Pat Yasinskas, who analyzes the Saints for ESPN.com, and AFC South blogger Paul Kuharsky, who tracks the Colts, in a room and asked them to talk through several of the top issues. We’re sure to revisit many of them in the week to come, so consider this a tasty platter or appetizers. Tuck a napkin in your collar and dive in. How much of a factor is it that the Colts have a recent Super Bowl championship on their resume, while this is the first Super Bowl appearance in a not-so-glorious franchise history for the Saints? Pat Yasinskas: I’m not going to even try to bluff my way through this one or downplay this aspect. This is a huge factor and the Saints are clearly at a disadvantage here. By my count, they’ve only got four players who have even appeared in a Super Bowl (with other teams, of course). That’s safety Darren Sharper, cornerback Randall Gay, fullback Kyle Eckel and long-snapper Jason Kyle. Gay is the only one of those guys with a Super Bowl ring. If you really want to pad the list, I suppose we could throw in tight ends Jeremy Shockey and David Thomas, who were on the injured-reserve list when their teams went to Super Bowls, and fullback Heath Evans, who went to a Super Bowl with New England. But Evans won’t play in this one because he’s on injured reserve. That’s it. Not a long list of guys who have been there and done that. The Saints haven’t been here before, but they have to act as if they have. They’ve got strong veteran leadership in players such as Sharper, Drew Brees and Jonathan Vilma. They’ll have to follow their lead. Just as important, the coaching staff has to set the tone that the Saints shouldn’t stroll into Miami with their eyes wide open. They need all eyes focused only on winning the game.

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MIAMI -- I know what you’re thinking: What to do on the sleepy Sunday night between the Championship Games and the Super Bowl?

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Colts Not Deviating From the Norm Amidst Super Bowl Preparation Week INDIANAPOLIS – With the Super Bowl on the horizon, and the Colts amidst their preparation, Head Coach Jim Caldwell said the team would continue to iron out any and all creases he deems necessary leading up to the big game. The Colts are hoping to stay sharp as they prepare for Super Bowl XLIV, which means practicing like it is any other week and not deviating from what has led to success all season.

“The big thing is that our week won’t change in terms of our practices,” Caldwell said. “How we go about it won’t change that much, but like many things, I think the mental is to the physical 10:1. So I think it is a mindset, and that more so than anything else it is how you describe things. I think it has an affect on your temperament, intensity and preparation.” The Colts coach said he would try to emphasize those things during the week because when the team travels to Miami next Monday, things tend to get a bit hectic with media schedules, practices and the various required appearances. “We won’t have the kind of focus and concentration we’d like to have for an extended period of time,” he said. “We can have it in spurts, but here we have it for an extended period of time, so we want to take advantage of it." In discussing the team’s plan this week, Caldwell said the Colts would be pretty much be business as usual, with a few exceptions—more film studying, more game planning and more strategizing over the logistics of next week. That means missing out on other sporting events going on Indianapolis this week, including the Indiana Pacers’ matchups against LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. “I might be slightly busy,” Caldwell joked. Caldwell said the two weeks between the NFL’s Championship Weekend and Super Bowl Sunday are giving the Colts ample time to prepare for the New Orleans Saints, whom he praised across the board.

The Colts coach said the Saints not only boast one of the best offenses in the league, but a strong defense to go along. “They are a very talented team that is going to take a lot of work to get prepared for,” he said. Having been to the Super Bowl just four seasons ago, Caldwell stressed to the team the importance of this week and how key the team’s preparation will be next week. The message has resonated loudly among players, even those who were with the Colts during their Super Bowl XLI title run, like quarterback Peyton Manning. “Having played in this game (before), I can speak to the truth of how important this week is to prepare and really prepare as if the game is on Sunday,” Manning said. “We are trying to get ready to play, and the time next week is to get even more prepared. That’s important, to have good mental preparation this week and good on-the-field practices.”

Manning said it is evident the team has bought into Caldwell’s coaching philosophies and added that the coach has been consistent in his message all season. “We are excited about where is going to lead us,” Manning said. “I think he’s set out a good plan, and the players now have to follow that plan.” Caldwell said he has yet to determine every detail of next week’s itinerary – such as meeting times, curfews and practice schedules – but said the team would benefit from having gone through the motions so recently. “Those are things you have some control over, but also the other thing about it is that these are men,” Caldwell said of the players. “We trust them. They’ve been good all season. We haven’t had a whole bunch of problems or issues. You don’t play as consistently well as we have with distractions.” The key, Caldwell said, is to make sure he has a captive audience at all times and make sure there is an environment in which his players can thrive. “I think we probably have the best available situation for us because we’ve been through it before,” he said. “It does help that, in a sense, 25 guys have been through this process. So that will help, I think, quite a bit.” As the team goes about polishing any last-minute smudges, Caldwell said the coaching staff and players would carry the same intensity to Miami next week. “It is not like we are going to go back there and pull back the reigns,” he said. “We have a real challenge ahead of us, so it is going to take really good preparation to get this done as well.”

MANNING RECEIVES MORE HONORS The awards keep coming in for Colts quarterback Peyton Manning. On Tuesday, the NFL’s four-time MVP was named the NFL 101 AFC Offensive Player-of-the-Year, marking the sixth time the Colts quarterback has won the award and making him the most decorated player in the 40-year history of 101 Awards. Manning led the Colts to a 14-2 finish in the regular season and helped guide them to Super Bowl XLIV, the team’s second Super Bowl appearance in four seasons. The quarterback passed for 4,500 yards and 33 touchdowns this season while leading the Colts to an NFL-record seven fourth-quarter comeback victories. In addition, Manning and defensive end Dwight Freeney also were named to the NFL’s All-Decade Team, which is scheduled to be announced during ESPN’s Sunday’s NFL Countdown (5:30 p.m. ET) during the network’s Pro Bowl coverage.

BETHEA NAMED TO PRO BOWL Also receiving recognition this week was safety Antoine Bethea, who was named to this year’s AFC Pro Bowl team, making him the seventh Colt to be named to the squad this season. Bethea joins quarterback Peyton Manning, center Jeff Saturday, wide receiver Reggie Wayne, tight end Dallas Clark and defensive ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis on the team. During the regular season, Bethea started all 16 games and registered team highs of 120 tackles and four interceptions. “I’m excited,” he said. “I am a little bit more excited because I won’t be able to play in the Pro Bowl, but being named to my second Pro Bowl in four years is something I’m pretty proud of.” Bethea added that having three defensive players named to the Pro Bowl shows just how well the defense has played as a whole this season. “It speaks volumes about our defense and our entire team,” he said. Bethea said he is happy to be sitting out this weekend’s festivities in favor of playing in next weekend’s game, Super Bowl XLIV. “It is much better to be going down there in casual clothes and be ready to suit up the week after that,” he said.

INJURY REPORT The Colts issued an injury report on Wednesday with the following players listed as full participation in practice: RBs-Joseph Addai (shoulder), Donald Brown (foot) and Mike Hart (ankle), LBs-Gary Brackett (knee) and Ramon Humber (knee), DBs-Melvin Bullitt (knee), Aaron Francisco (hand) and Jamie Silva (hand), OTs-Ryan Diem (elbow), Charlie Johnson (foot) and Tony Ugoh (knee), DT-Antonio Johnson (shoulder), DE-Robert Mathis (shoulder), OG-Jamey Richard (shoulder), K-Adam Vinatieri (right hip) and WR-Reggie Wayne (knee). DB-Antoine Bethea (back) was listed as limited participation, while DE-Dwight Freeney (ankle), DB-Jerraud Powers (foot) and TE-Jacob Tamme (ankle) were listed as did not participate in practice.

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