How long should a successful rebuild take?

tinman said
The 2005 season was the biggest outlier in NFL history! Move the team headquarters out of state, play every home game NOT in the home stadium, every player dealing w/family/home uncertainty, a fan base that was still shell shocked by Katrina & a coach that knew the handwriting was on the wall!
In 2006 w had an awesome draft, a new coach & the best free agent signing in history of the game! The dome opener against ATL was a cherry on the top! After that season it took a couple more years to consistently get it going.

I've always felt that way about 2005.

Worst case scenario under normal circumstances: probably another one of Haslett's 8-8 seasons.

If there's one thing that always irked me about the story of the post-Katrina Saints path to the SB title, it was the portrayal of the Saints being just a continual-loop episode of Football Follies until Payton and Brees arrived.......which of course is very easy to get away with following a 3-13 season.