Since the beginning of the 2012 NFL season we’ve been witnessing something that should not be humanly possible: a man with multiple neck surgeries, who has no feeling in his fingertips, breaking every NFL passing record there is. It should be noted that if you had the same surgeries as one Peyton Manning, that you probably shouldn’t play rough with your kids, much less have your body take on the equivalent of a car wreck 17-19 Sundays out of the year.
Nonetheless, Manning came back after he should have retired because one more Super Bowl ring and how he is perceived historically, means more than how his body is breaking down currently. The Denver Broncos gambles on him having enough left in the tank to get them over the top at least once, and by all accounts they really should have won it all in 2012 and 2013. But because he kept coming up short, and because he kept losing in the same situations he had in the past, Manning had to keep coming back for one more round for the chance to win it all and ride off into the sunset.
Depending on your definition of the greatest of all-time, Manning is either at the top of your list because of the way he has outsmarted defenses and been the smartest person on the field for the past 17 years, or he’s outside your top five because of postseason failures and the fact that he has won only one Super Bowl. I think he lies somewhere in the middle, both cases are too hard to ignore.
However, back to Manning’s past four seasons, his 2012 through mid-2014 campaigns is the best statistical stretch any QB has ever had, but ever since the midway point of last year, Manning’s body has finally betrayed him, and we’re watching the sad sendoff in the final chapter of one of the richest books in NFL history.
After his four interception performance on Sunday, Manning was finally pulled and it appears his season and career are finally over. It’s weird to think of how we might have perceived him if he just ended it after 2011, but now his perception is the blend he always gave us, great, but just not good enough.