NEW ORLEANS--The New Orleans Saints clinched the NFC championship yesterday, sending the team to its first ever Super Bowl in franchise history. It was a bittersweet moment for the Saints , who reveled in their victory but expressed disappointment that they won’t get to see a Favre vs. Manning matchup in the big game.

“That would have been epic,” said Saints quarterback Drew Brees. “Peyton Manning vs. Brett Favre. The prototypical modern quarterback versus the old gunslinger. The MVP at the top of his game versus the battle-scarred veteran making his last stand. But alas, some great matchups just aren’t meant to be. On the bright side, we’re playing, which means we have a chance to win the Super Bowl, which is a nice consolation prize.”

Brees believes that a Manning-Favre matchup would have been “great theatre” and lamented that fans were deprived of it by some sloppy play by the Vikings.

“It’s tough because they really could have won that game,” said Brees. “But you have a couple turnovers here and there and then a bad interception and then the overtime coin flip and that’s that. I just hope that there isn’t a bit of a letdown for our players. They really had their hearts set on Favre-Manning, but now we have to regroup and go out there and play through the disappointment.”

When the Vikings began driving down the field with two minutes left in a tie game, players on both sidelines allowed themselves to dream of a Vikings-Colts showdown. When the Vikes crossed mid-field with half minute left, the Favre-Manning chatter grew even louder.

“Standing there on the sidelines watching Favre drive his team down the field, I started to really believe,” said Saints running back Pierre Thomas. “I said to my teammates 'This could actually happen.' Then it all came crashing down. Talk about a stomach punch. I guess all I can do now is play a Vikes-Colts matchup on Madden 2010. I call Vikings!”

For Saints head coach Sean Payton, the task now is to get his team excited to play in the “Consolation Bowl.”

“Look, we all wanted to see Favre-Manning face off against each other,” said Payton. “But this is the game we’re stuck with. This is no time to mope around and wonder what might have been. There will be plenty of time to do that after the game, because frankly, if the Jets defense couldn’t stop the Colts, there’s no reason to believe we can stop them. The Vikings could have, though. What a dream matchup that would have been.”