The End of an Era

Sunday marks the end of an era, the Peyton Manning era. I know this has nothing to do with the Packers, but just as we were lucky to have witnessed the career of Brett Favre up close and personal we are also lucky to have been alive while Manning was in his prime. Love him or hate him or somewhere in between Manning is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time hands down.

Peyton Manning on the Sidelines and Nearing the End

Sunday when the Broncos play the Chargers for the first time since Manning was a freshman at Tennessee in 1994 he will be active for a game and not be behind center on the first play snapping his starting streak at 334 games including post-season games.

The Pitchman

Now why should I care about a man who I have disliked since he suddenly was on all the commercials a few years back. You think I'm kidding, but it seemed he was selling every product. It made me hate him. But now that he is on only a few commercials I don't dislike him and actually like one of the commercials he is on now.

To illustrate the point I also loved Elizabeth Banks, but now she is in every movie and is now directing every movie. I can't stand her when I really liked her before. I wish she would make choices instead of saying yes to everything (wait I don't think I would ever say that about a woman. The world IS coming to an end).

It seems Manning has learned less is more and maybe Banks and Jennifer Lawrence (she is going in the same direction) will learn that same lesson sooner than later before I have to hate her too when I actually like her. I am caught between a soft place and a hard place.

Back to Manning before... He holds all the passing records at the University of Tennessee, where they retired his #16 and at the Indianapolis Colts, where they are supposed to retire his #18 someday. He holds the NFL record for touchdown passes with 539 and passing yardage with 71,871 surpassing the previous record holders Brett Favre and Dan Marino, who are also considered by some as the greatest quarterbacks of all time with due respect to Otto Graham, Sammy Baugh and Johnny Unitas.

He bucked family tradition and chose the University of Tennessee instead of Ole Miss and started his freshman year at the third string quarterback behind Todd Helton and Jerry Colquitt. He didn't play his first game until game three when he came off the bench because of injuries.

Volunteer of the Century

Manning became the Lou Gehrig of football when he started the next game against Washington State (winning 10-9) beginning a streak of starts that lasted 17 years until off-season neck surgery caused him to miss the entire 2011 season with the Colts.

He finished his freshman year with a 7-1 record, including a win in the Gator Bowl. He left UT as the all-time leading passer with 11,201 yards and 89 touchdowns and a 39-6 record in 45 consecutive starts, including three bowls games and two SEC championship games. However, he lost his final collegiate game to Nebraska, 42-17, in the Orange Bowl and he finished second to (spoiler alert Packer reference) Charles Woodson from national champion Michigan for the Heisman Trophy.

He was drafted No. 1 overall by the Colts (Woodson was drafted fourth) and immediately was installed as the starting quarterback taking over for Jim "Rabid Dog" Harbaugh. He didn't disappoint breaking five NFL rookie records, including touchdown passes with 28, despite posting a 3-13 record. The following year he turned it all around leading the Colts to a 13-3 record, but lost the first game of the playoffs (starting a disturbing trend in his otherwise sterling career).

The Colt Legend

He led the Colts to a 141-67 record over his first 12 years in the NFL, but only posted a 9-10 playoff record, including being eliminated in the first playoff game seven out of 11 appearances. He lost to the Patriots in the AFC championship game in sixth season (2003) and won his first Super Bowl appearance in 2006.

At the Pinnacle

After the Super Bowl he was eliminated in the first game of the playoffs the next two season before losing the Super Bowl in 2009. He was eliminated in the first round in 2010 ending his Colts career with a loss.

After a year off he took over the Broncos from Tim Tebow and took a team that had posted a 44-52 record over the previous six seasons and turned them into a powerhouse going 13-3. However, once again Manning fell short in the playoffs losing to the Ravens, 38-35 in overtime in the first game. The following season he took the Broncos to the Super Bowl, but this time it wasn't just the defense that let the team down, but himself losing to the Seahawks, 43-8, throwing two interceptions, including a pick-six.

The Bronco Savior

Last year Manning again was dominant leading the Broncos to a 12-4 record, but again for the ninth time out of 14 seasons lost in the first round of the playoffs.

Manning started the 2015 with seven straight wins culminating in destroying Dom Capers' defense in week 8 (21-of-29 for 340 yards with no TDs and 1 interception), but was not the Peyton Manning he once was. He lost the next game to the Colts and his successor Andrew Luck, 27-24, completing 21-of-36 passes for 281 yards with 2 TDs and 2 interceptions.

He then started the next game against the Chiefs and despite having the worst game of his career completing 5-of-20 passes for 35 yards (17 long) with four interceptions he broke Brett Favre's passing record on a 4-yard pass to running back Ronnie Hillman with10:43 left in the first quarter on his second attempt after throwing an interception on his first.

Manning was eventually benched and replaced by Brock Osweiller. It was revealed later in the week he has suffered a torn plantar fasciitis in his right foot and hasn't played since missing the next six games.

It was the first time in his career he missed a game because of injury in a season he had opened as a starter. Missing the game against the Bears snapped his consecutive starting streak in the NFL at 289, including playoffs, if you take away the lost 2011 season.

Osweiller began his starting career with three wins over the Bears, Patriots and Chargers, before losing to the Raiders, 15-12, and Steelers, 34-17. He then beat the Bengals, 20-17, and will host the Chargers Sunday in the final game of the regular season.

Going into Sunday's game Manning has completed 193-of-322 (59.9%) for 2,180 yards with 9 TDs and 17 interceptions and he will be standing on the sidelines healthy and not starting for the first time since September 17, 1994.

An era that started officially September 24, 1994 in Knoxville, Tennessee ended with6:34 remaining in the third quarter on November 15, 2015 in Denver, Colorado.

In between Manning was named NFL MVP 5 times, named to 14 Pro Bowls, named 1st Team All-Pro 7 times, Offensive Player of the Year twice, Comeback Player of the Year in 2012, was NFL passing leader in 2000, 2003 and 2013 and named to the NFL 2000's All-Decade Team.

He also holds the NFL record in TD passes with 539 breaking Favre's record of 508 and the record for passing yardage with 71,871 breaking Favre's record of 71,838 by 33 yards. He set the record for TD passes in a season twice. He set it first in 2004 when he threw for 49 with the Colts breaking Dan Marino's 1984 record of 48. After Tom Brady threw 50 in 2007 he set it again his second season with Broncos in 2013 with 55.

Manning is tied with Favre for consecutive 35 or more TD passes in a season with 3 (his first three years with the Broncos). Manning only had 1 season with the Colts with over 35 TD passes. He is also tied with Favre for most seasons with 30 TD passes with 9 and with Favre, Johnny Unitas, Len Dawson, and Steve Young most times leading the league in touchdown passes with 4.

Formerly the Best

(Another Spoiler Alert Packer reference) Favre still owns 9 other NFL records by himself. The one that may never be broken is his consecutive regular season starts at 297, which Manning would have broke next season in the 10th game if he hadn't missed the 2011 season (16 games) and the last 7 games this season. Ironically his younger brother Eli is next in line to attack that record having started 182 consecutive games starting with the last seven games his rookie season when he replaced Kurt Warner as the starting quarterback on November 21, 2004. He hasn't missed a start ever since.

The other main ones are for career  passes attempted with 10,169 (Manning needs 799 to break) and passes completed with 6,300 (Manning needs 181).

The next two are 18 consecutive 3,000 yards passing seasons and 18 seasons with 3,000 yards passing. Manning will have his current streak of 16 broken this season (for records like this if you miss an entire season it doesn't count towards a consecutive game streak) unless he gets into the game Sunday and passes for 821 yards, which would be another record. Eli currently has the active streak of 11 going.

Favre also holds the record for most consecutive MVP awards at 3 (Manning has won consecutive awards twice in 2003-04 and 2008-09); most regular season wins by a quarterback with 191 (Manning has 186); most regular season starts as a quarterback with 298 (Manning has 265) and most consecutive seasons with 8 or more victories with 13 (Manning has 12).