The Super Bowl is finally in Peyton's place.
After eight seasons as the NFL's best active quarterback never to throw a pass in the Super Bowl, after falling short in the playoffs for each of the past four years, Peyton Manning has a chance to silence all of the critics who have said he will never win a championship.
After four straight failed trips to the playoffs, including a loss to Pittsburgh last season, Manning finally got the Colts over the hump. He also exorcised the demons otherwise known as the New England Patriots by beating them for the first time in three playoff meetings. He had to rally his team from 18 points down to do it ? all with a bruised thumb on his throwing hand — but he finally proved to everyone he could indeed win a big game. Bet on the Super Bowl XLI at Bodog.com and receive instant bonuses!
And then he downplayed the importance of getting the Super Bowl monkey off his back, telling reporters, "I don't get into monkeys and vindication. I don't play that card."
But he will play in the Super Bowl for the first time in a nine-year career that already has all of the other credentials to put him in the Hall of Fame: seven Pro Bowls, two NFL MVP awards and a growing number of NFL records. He will make his 157th consecutive start (including playoff games) when the favored Colts (-7 on WagerWeb.com) take on the Chicago Bears on Sunday in Miami.
Drafted with the first overall pick in 1998, Manning has started every game in his career and compiled a 92-52 record. Since Coach Tony Dungy arrived in 2002, Manning and the Colts have won 10 or more games every season (60-20). Manning already is in the top 10 in NFL history in completions and passing touchdowns, and he has been among the top three passing yardage leaders in eight of his nine seasons.
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But playoff success had eluded him. He and the Colts were humiliated by the New York Jets 41-0 in 2002, and then beaten twice by the Patriots — in the AFC title game in 2003 and in a divisional playoff in 2004. Manning's failures in those games especially had many pundits doubting whether he could win the most significant games.
Those critics seemed to be validated in the first half of the latest meeting with the Patriots, when Manning and the Colts trailed 21-3 after one of his passes had been returned for a touchdown. But Manning came out firing in the second half and rallied his team to the greatest comeback in the history of the conference championship games. He threw for 349 yards and led the Colts on an 80-yard touchdown drive to take the lead late in the fourth quarter.
"I'm so proud of the way our guys fought," Dungy said after that game. "I'm very happy for Peyton. He was very, very calm. He had to bring us from behind three or four times. It's just fitting. Our team went the hard way the whole year."
Until this season, it had been the hard way every year in the playoffs for the Colts.
But now Manning has a chance to secure his place in NFL history as one of the best quarterbacks to play the game.
