In just three NFL seasons, Will Smith has almost seen it all. Now, after playing a starring role in the feel-good story of the year, the New Orleans Saints' Pro Bowl defensive end from Utica can even picture himself playing for a Super Bowl ring.

As unthinkable as that may have been a year ago, when the city was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina and its team staggered to a 3-13, last-place finish, all Smith and the Saints have to do is go marching into Chicago and beat the Bears in Sunday's NFC Championship Game (3 p.m., Fox) and they will be playing in Super Bowl XLI.

"I can believe it," Smith said by phone this week, referring to the Saints' sudden rise from worst-to-first in the NFC South, and a berth in their first conference title game in the 40-year history of the franchise. "That's what you play for, to make it to the playoffs and to have an opportunity to make it to the Super Bowl, and we've been successful so far.

"Now, we've got to take it a step further and make it to the Super Bowl. You never know at the beginning of the season what's going to happen, but toward the middle of the season I kind of felt we had an opportunity to go a long way. And we knew coming into the playoffs that we have a lot of weapons, that we have the ability to go all the way."

Under the most extreme circumstances, getting this far in such a short time has been "a real-life dream" for the 25-year-old Smith.

Just three years ago, after helping Ohio State University's Buckeyes win a national championship, the former Thomas R. Proctor High School star was the Saints' No. 1 draft pick — the 18th selection overall — and by season's end, he had earned a spot on Pro Football Weekly's NFL All-Rookie Team.

The Saints' 8-8 record, though, wasn't good enough to make the playoffs and last year, despite Smith's emergence as one of the league's top young pass rushers, things went from bad to worse.

He was a starter by the end of the season and he led the team with 8 1/2 sacks, but the road-weary Saints won only three games and finished last in the NFC South.

"I treat those first two years as learning experiences," Smith said. "To see the bottom, and now to see things from the top, when everything you sought out to do is coming true. ... It's a slow process, but I think it's worked out for the best.

"Now, the next goal is to keep it going. You can't be satisfied. We've just got to keep doing what we've been doing all year."

In their first season under new head coach Sean Payton, the Saints went 10-6 and earned the No. 2 seed in the NFC. They reached Sunday's championship game with a 27-24 win over the Philadelphia Eagles.

Offensively, Payton's gutsy play-calling and the additions of quarterback Drew Brees and dynamic rookies Reggie Bush and Marques Colston helped the Saints lead the NFL with an average of 391.5 yards per game. Smith, meanwhile, is widely recognized as the best player on a much-improved defense that has been bolstered by the offseason additions of linebackers Scott Fujita, Mark Simoneau and Scott Shanle and tackle Hollis Thomas.

"Everybody doubted (Colston) and he's showing what he can do," Smith said. "Drew's the captain of the ship; he makes it all happen. Reggie's the explosive guy, the guy who makes the big plays. And we've got a bunch of guys (on defense) that nobody else wanted, but the coaching staff believed in them and gave them the opportunity and now they're showing what they can do."

So is the 6-foot-3, 282-pound Smith.

In his first two seasons, he started only 13 of 32 games but still recorded 16 sacks. This season, his first as a full-time starter, he led the Saints with 10 1/2 sacks in 14 games, missing one with a sore knee and sitting out the regular-season finale because the Saints already had clinched a first-round bye and a home playoff game.

Smith had 49 tackles in the regular season, then made a team-high five stops in last week's win over the Eagles.

"We're very proud of everything Will's been able to accomplish," said his Proctor head coach, Guy Puleo, who will be at Sunday's game in Chicago with assistant coach Paul Filletti. "This has to be the most exciting thing that's ever happened involving a local kid from Proctor or any of the Utica schools. You walk around the halls at school and people are talking about Will.

"I'm surprised at what the Saints have done, after the season they had last year. But I'm not surprised at what Will has done, not at all. I can remember when he was in eighth grade, and we already knew he was going to be a Division I football player. Now, in just the last five years he's won a National Championship and he's got a chance to play in the Super Bowl. That's a hell of a run. Not too many people have done that."

Earning a spot on the NFC's Pro Bowl roster was one of Smith's goals at the beginning of the season.

That dream came true in late December, when a vote of players, coaches and fans named Smith and the Carolina Panthers' Julius Peppers as starting defensive ends for the Feb. 10 game at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.

"That was something I wanted to achieve," he said. "It's not just about going to Hawaii. It's saying you are respected by your peers and the coaches and fans. That makes it that much better."

Brees and Saints offensive tackle Jammal Brown will join Smith at the Pro Bowl.

"Will has been a big force for us defensively this season," Payton said in a news release. "He's been a major part of our improvement on defense this season. As a player, he's someone who prepares both on and off the field very diligently each and every week."

This week, Smith has been preparing for the Chicago Bears and Sunday's conference final.

Next week, he hopes to be preparing for a trip to Miami and Super Bowl XLI.

"I know we're going to have another big challenge this week," he said. "They've got a special team, too. They've done a lot this season, too. But I think anything can happen."