During what could be described as a dream year, the New Orleans Saints pulled off one of the greatest turnarounds in sports history this football season, culminating in the franchise’s first ever appearance in the National Football Conference Championship game Sunday against the Chicago Bears.

Although the Saints fell to the Bears 39-14 last Sunday, the season will be remembered as a large step in the right direction and could mark a turning point in what has long been one of the most troubled programs in professional athletics.

Consider that only a year ago, the Saints finished with a 3-13 record, were second-to-last in the league, had an offense that struggled to be consistent and a defense regarded as one of the softest in the NFL.

Lots can change in a year. Starting in the off-season, Saints’ owner Tom Benson began the team’s rebirth by hiring Sean Payton as the new head coach. Formerly a quarterback coach with the Dallas Cowboys, Payton led the Saints to a 10-6 regular-season record, just the eighth winning season in the franchise’s 40-year history; earning him NFL Coach of the Year Honors. Before ever setting foot on a Saints’ sideline, Payton had already begun laying the groundwork for success last March, when he picked up free-agent quarterback Drew Brees.

Brees’ impact on the team this season was enormous. He finished the regular season as the NFL leader in passing yards with 4,418, had the third best passer rating at 96.2, and finished in the top 10 in every passing category to earn him a place in this year’s Pro Bowl.

Payton and Brees were not the only two newcomers that played a key role in the Saints’ march, however. During the NFL draft last spring, the team used its first round pick to acquire USC running back Reggie Bush, the 2005 Heisman Memorial Trophy winner, who many experts considered the top offensive player to enter the draft in several years.

Bush lived up to all the hype, too, running for 565 yards and six touchdowns and receiving 742 yards. The fact that Bush finished fifth in the Rookie of the Year voting would have been newsworthy for the Saints, had he not been surpassed by teammate Marques Colston.

Colston, a rookie wide receiver out of Hofstra University, may have been the biggest surprise in the NFL this season. Drafted in the last round of the draft, Colston came out of nowhere to tally 1,038 yards and eight touchdowns and could have easily been named the Rookie of the Year had he not missed part of the season due to injury. Even with being sidelined, he still finished second in the voting.

With the addition of these new players to the already formed corps of running back Deuce McAllister, wide outs Joe Horn and Devery Henderson, among others, the Saints have put together a squad that has proven they  can be successful at the highest level of competition and will be a threat to other eams next season.