During negotiations with quarterback Drew Brees last March, New Orleans Saints' coach Sean Payton took a different tack. He gave his quarry a dramatic tour of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina. Having seen boats marooned in trees, thousands of houses collapsed in heaps, and trailers where so many homes used to be, Brees signed a six-year contract worth $60m. He then bought a house in one of the oldest neighbourhoods in the city and vowed to make a difference.

"I didn't see this city as a city that I wanted to shy away from because of the situation and circumstances after Katrina, " said Brees this week. "I embraced that as an opportunity to really not only be a big part of this team and this franchise but to really be a guy in the community who would give back and really just do my part. I have just followed the lead of a lot of the guys on our team, guys like Joe Horn and Deuce McAllister, who were already doing a lot of things. As I have learned about this community and this city you just grow to love it. The people care so much about this place and that just rubs off on you."

At Soldier Field this afternoon, Brees and the Saints take on the Chicago Bears in the NFC Championship game.

That they are one victory away from reaching next month's Super Bowl is nothing short of a miracle. Impressive a sporting feat as that is, it pales next to the way he and his colleagues have conducted themselves in the most beleaguered city in America. Charged with the task of transforming the fortunes of one of the NFL's perennial losing franchises, this group of men have played a greater role in the reconstruction of a society.

Upon agreeing a six-year $62m contract last July, rookie running back Reggie Bush (right) immediately began throwing his commercial weight around.

An endorsement deal with Pepsi included a clause where the company contributes a certain amount each season to New Orleans charities, his boot sponsor Adidas donated money to keep open a local school for autistic children, and Hummer, his chariot of choice, loaned a dozen trucks to police officers to help them navigate the water-logged streets.

Bush learned quickly that under these circumstances his responsibilities extend way beyond his performances between the white lines.

"Every game for this city has been huge, " said Bush last week. "The fact that we are winning has been huge for the city. Everybody is excited and ecstatic so we don't have to do anything for them because they are already pumped up and excited. We have a huge effect on the city and the people here and all the things that they have gone through. We are sort of like an inspiration to them. We know that we mean a lot to them and they mean a lot to us."

When he signed a personal cheque for $86,000 to construct an artificial turf field for local high school teams, Bush was merely following the example of his peers. Apart from hosting fundraisers, running food drives and encouraging his teammates to regularly dip their hands into their own pockets to help the stricken, Brees personally supervised the refurbishment of a hospital transportation van and led a contingent of Saints who painted and landscaped a run-down school last October.

"I get so many people coming up to me, and so many of them, their comments are not, 'Hey, great season, '" said Brees.

"It's more, 'It's so great you came to New Orleans. It means so much to us that you would choose our city. Thank you.' That really means a lot because you can just tell how much the people care about their city. Not only their Saints, but their city."

With its own stadium, the Super Dome, having become a bit part player in the post-Katrina debacle, the Saints played its home games in New York, San Antonio and Baton Rouge last season. On their way to 13 defeats in 16 matches, speculation abounded that the team would never return to the apparently cursed venue. After $186m was spent repairing the damage to the facility, the Saints' first competitive fixture back at the Dome was shown live on national television last September. The centre-piece of the prematch entertainment was U2 and Green Day collaborating on a rousing version of The Skids classic 'The Saints are Coming'. Nobody in the NFL knew then how prophetic those words would be.

"This is a tough town to accomplish some of the things you want to in football because you have some distractions, " said Sean Payton. "You can go down to Bourbon Street and the French Quarter. You have casinos. You have the daiquiri stands. Hopefully, you bring the right type of player in here that understands what's important."

Fewer teams have ever understood what's important better than this one.