(By Daisy Barringer)

It all comes down to this. 49ers fans have waited almost ten years for this game. Ever since the 49ers heart-breaking loss to Tampa Bay in the divisional game in the 2002 playoffs, all we've wanted is to see our boys in the post-season. To see them run out on the field in their red jerseys. To know that we have a team that deserves to be there. That has what it takes. That can win.

And tomorrow, it happens.

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAL!

Sorry. I was totally trying to be professional in the beginning there, but I'm just REALLY excited. And nervous. And giddy. And wired. And somewhat close to hyperventilating. You know that annoying commercial for Disney World where the little boy says, “We're too excited to sleep!” in a tone that’s half whiney half adorable?

I am that little boy.

This week has been somewhat brutal. I'll be honest: I was hoping the Lions would beat the Saints because I was much more comfortable facing off against the Falcons or the Giants. But the Lions couldn’t do it and so the New Orleans Saints come marching into San Francisco looking for their first-ever on-the-road playoff victory. Yup, that's right. The Saints have NEVER won a playoff game on-the-road (excluding the Super Bowl which isn't an away-game, but more of a neutral turf-game.)

(Yes, I am knocking on wood. You don’t need to remind me. This is what I do.)

But no one in the media seems to care about the fact that while the Saints are jaw-droppingly good when they play at home, in a dome, on turf—they're totally beatable on the road. No, the media has stars in their eyes when it comes to Drew Brees and all of his fancy records (swoon!). They can’t see past the Saints high-powered offense in order to see the 49ers dominant defense.

And you know what? That's fine with me. And I bet it's fine with everyone within the 49ers organization. Because the media hasn't given us any respect all year. They didn't give us respect when we staged an amazing 4th quarter comeback to beat the Eagles. They didn't give us respect when we routed Tampa Bay. They didn’t give us respect when we beat the Lions at 10 a.m. on the road. In fact, they didn't give us respect for winning ALL of our 10 a.m. road games, a difficult feat, as we know all too well. Nope. We didn't get respect when we took the Giants. Or when we destroyed the Steelers on Monday night.

No respect ever. All season long, the media's offered excuses as to why the 49ers have won games. But no matter what they say, we're 13-3. We earned a first round bye. And we’re playing the Saints tomorrow. And we're going to win.

Here's how.

(Also, forgive me. There’s so much to cover, so I’m just going to try to point out the big stuff. Feel free to leave the rest of it in the comments.)

The Bad

>> It’s the Saints. I'm not going to pretend as if I’m not nervous. I am. The Saints are good. They’re good with the passing game and they’re good with the rushing game. They've had four straight games of 40 points or more. This is not going to be an easy win by any means.

>> Drew Brees. He reads the field, he makes excellent passes, he confuses defenses with his snap count. The guy is formidable. The 49ers have to think through everything he's doing and not get tricked by his crazy eyes.

>> Darren Sproles. The Saints running back is fast. And the Saints ranked sixth in the NFL in rushing. Our defense knows how to stop the run. Now they just have to execute.

>> The 49ers secondary. They don’t often miss tackles, but I'm just nervous the tackles are going to come after deep bombs down field. (Of course, they don’t often miss interception either.)

>> I feel like I am beating a dead horse here, but the 49ers rank 16th against the pass (230.9 yards per game).

>> The 49ers in the red zone. Field goals WILL NOT CUT IT.

The Good

>> The Niners are coming off of a two-week stretch of resting and getting healthy.

>> Time of possession. This is huge for the 49ers. The Saints are pretty horrible against the run, so the 49ers need to give Gore the ball and let him do his thing. Run down the clock. Keep Brees on the sideline. Don’t let him get into his rhythm. I honestly believe this is one of the most important factors in the game.

>> Aldon Smith. I'm sure there’s a reason Harbaugh doesn't play Aldon on every down, but I think it’s important to let Aldon do his thing. Get in Brees' face. Get in his head. And then knock him the hell down.

>> Our defense in general. I just hope our offense can run the ball enough to give our D some time to rest.

>> Frank Gore. I basically can’t write about Frank Gore without getting tears in my eyes, so just… yeah. Frank Gore.

>> The 49ers need turnovers and they know how to get them. I know I dissed them a little bit just a second ago, but Carlos Rogers and Dashon Goldson have six INTs apiece. All they need to do is get a few more. ("All they need to do…" Amazing, Daisy.)

>> The Saints aren’t great on grass. They average 13 fewer points and Brees' 122.4
passer rating drops to 88.9. In addition, grass just slows players down. Here’s
hoping the 49ers forgot to mow the lawn this week. And maybe overwatered it a bit,
as well.

>> Home field advantage. Seriously people? Wear red and GET LOUD. I mean it.

>> Confidence. It sounds lame, but I think it means a lot. Everyone knows Alex Smith isn't Drew Brees. Everyone knows that we don’t have playoff experience. Everyone knows we’re the underdogs. But I know that every single player on the San Francisco 49ers believes that this team can go all the way. And sometimes, believing is everything.

The Rest of It

I could write pages and pages about tomorrow's game. The fact that the Saints have 39 guys on the team who’d been to the playoffs before this year compared to our eight. The fact that the Saints have 27 players with Super Bowl rings (yes, I clicked on the names of every single Saints player listed in Wikipedia to get that stat) versus two of our guys.

I even wrote a list of reasons that basically have nothing whatsoever to do with football over on xoJane in case this post isn’t girlie enough for you. (I don't see how this post couldn’t be girlie enough for you considering I started it with a squeal, but you never know.)

Ultimately, it's do or die. The 49ers need to bring all of their weapons—their dominant defense, incredible special teams, and (almost) mistake-free offense—to the field.

It’s not going to be easy (I've had a recurring nightmare all week that Drew Brees throws a bomb for a touchdown on the Saints’ first possession), but we can do this.

We are the faithful. We believe.

Watch the 49ers-Saints tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. on FOX.