NEW ORLEANS –– There have been six Super Bowls played in the Louisiana Superdome. The Patriots have played in three of them. The hometown Saints haven’t played in any of them.

There have been nine Super Bowls played in New Orleans. The Saints haven’t played in any of those, either.

The Saints have never played in any Super Bowl, anywhere.

Which is why Monday’s game against New England ranks among the most important in the 43-year, failure-filled history of this long-struggling franchise.

It’s still a long way from the final night of November to Super Bowl XLIV the first Sunday in February, but this is the time for the Saints to establish that they are, finally, a Super Bowl-caliber team.

And what better team to do it against than the Patriots — the NFL’s Team of the Decade after winning three Super Bowls in four years between 2001 and 2004, and then going 18-0 in 2007 before losing Super Bowl XLII in the final minute to the New York Giants?

For the first 12 years of their existence, the Saints weren’t even a .500 team.

They finally went 8-8 in 1979, but it wasn’t until 1987 — their 21st season — that they had their first winning record. But, after going 12-3 that strike-marred year, they were blown out at home in their first playoff game, 44-10, by the Vikings.

It wasn’t until the 2000 season that the Saints finally won a postseason game, beating the Rams in New Orleans, 31-28. But they then lost in the conference semifinals in Minnesota, 34-16.

Only once have the Saints played for the NFC title. That was in 2006 when, after winning the NFC West for only the third time in franchise history, they were routed by the Bears in Chicago, 39-14.

That was the last time New Orleans made the playoffs. But they’ll be returning to postseason play this season, having gotten off to a 10-0 start while leading the league in scoring and interceptions.

Still, how frustrating must it be for the Saints and their long-suffering fans — who, in the midst of a 1-15 season in 1980, came to games wearing bags on their heads while calling the team the “’Aints” — to play in a stadium called the Superdome, but never go to a Super Bowl?

How disappointing has it been for New Orleans to have hosted nine Super Bowls — the first three in the old, since-demolished, Sugar Bowl, on the campus of Tulane University — yet never see the Saints play even once in America’s biggest game?

The Patriots have been to six Super Bowls, winning three.

Coincidentally, the first three times the Pats played in the Super Bowl, it was held in New Orleans.

The first was in January, 1986, after a remarkable playoff run in which, as the AFC wild-card team, the Patriots defeated the Jets, Raiders, and Dolphins on the road to earn the right to play the defensively-dominant Bears in Super Bowl XX.

Unfortunately, they were overpowered by Chicago’s defense in the Super Bowl, 46-10.

New England’s second trip to the Super Bowl was similarly disappointing –– not just because they lost to Brett Favre and the Packers, 35-21, in Super Bowl XXXI, following the 1996 season, but because the Pats also lost coach Bill Parcells, who had decided to coach of the Jets.

Five years later, with Bill Belichick as coach, the Patriots were back in the Super Bowl, which also happened to be back in New Orleans.

The high-scoring St. Louis Rams had earned the label “The Greatest Show on Turf” that 2001 season, but Belichick and the New England defense showed the rest of the NFL how to upstage the Rams, pulling off an unforgettable, 20-17 upset.

That was the last time the Patriots played in New Orleans.

“You never forget that day,” quarterback Tom Brady, who was MVP in that game, said last week. “That was pretty unbelievable for all of us.”

Prior to this game, the most important one the Saints have played in the Superdome was in 2006.

Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans shortly before the start of the 2005 season. The Superdome became a shelter for people left homeless by the storm. The Saints, too, were left “homeless,” playing their “home” games in San Antonio and, later, up the road in Baton Rouge at LSU as they struggled through a 3-13 season.

Following an extensive renovation to their heavily-damaged stadium, the Saints returned to New Orleans and beat the Falcons, 23-3.

Tonight’s game won’t pack the same emotion, but the seats will be filled with screaming fans as the Saints try to prove that they really can be a “uper” team.

jdonalds@projo.com