New Orleans ? What a spicy Cajun mix for the NFC championship game.

Brett Favre, headed for the Hall of Fame someday, highlights yet another comeback by facing the team he rooted for while growing up in Mississippi.

His Minnesota Vikings — ouch, say Packers fans — are on the doorstep of their first Super Bowl trip in 33 years, with the 40-year-old quarterback resembling the wide-eyed youngster who took Green Bay to the title in the very same Superdome in 1997.

And those Superdome tenants, the New Orleans Saints, are hosting a conference championship for the first time. A Super Bowl would provide a massive lift for a city still recovering from Hurricane Katrina’s devastation and torment more than four years ago.

A Saints victory today could set off Mardi Gras a few weeks early

“It’s hard to explain,” Favre said. “But as exciting and as exhilarating as the win is, the reality is I was fortunate enough to win one Super Bowl (1997 in New Orleans), the next year we lose one. And I think more about the one we lost than the one we won. I can’t explain it to you how that feeling is, so the championship game is no different. I’ve always treated every playoff game like it’s the Super Bowl.”