To Manning or Not To Manning...

...That is the question for the Indianapolis Colts.

It's amazing. The Super Bowl is being played in 2 days at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, and I'd say at least half of the talk this past two weeks has been about Peyton Manning.

Now that talk has been ramped up. Manning's doctors have cleared him to play. Jim Irsay, the owner of the Colts, then came out and tweeted that Manning has not been cleared by team doctors. Speculation is that Manning will be released. Or that the Colts will pick up his $28 million option. Or that Manning will retire. Whatever happens, I find it very interesting that the Colts find themselves in a situation that they faced, although with some differences, with a legendary quarterback nearly 40 years ago.

Let's go back to the early 1970's. The Baltimore Colts were Super Bowl champions in 1970, and lost in the AFC Championship game to Miami the next season. John Unitas was their quarterback, but he was at the end of his career. Robert Irsay, the father of the current Colts owner, purchased the Los Angeles Rams and then traded the franchise for the Colts from then owner Carroll Rosenbloom. One of Irsay's first moves was to move on from the Unitas era and start fresh. But Colts coach Don McCafferty was loyal to his old quarterback Unitas, and he did not want to make the change. Irsay then fired the coach who won the Super Bowl just two years earlier.

The Colts went into the 1973 NFL Draft with the 2nd Overall Pick. They then selected Bert Jones, the All-American quarterback from LSU. Irsay wanted to make a clean break from Unitas and then traded him to San Diego. Unitas played one season for the Chargers. He had the will, but his arm couldn't find the way after suffering a number of injuries beginning in the 1968 season. Playing for a bad Chargers team did not help, and the greatest quarterback of his era retired at the end of the season.

The Colts in 1973-74 were not the same team that had so much success in 1970-71. The players on the championship team got old fast, and Baltimore was left with a young team that struggled. But it all came into place in 1975, and Jones led the team to three straight AFC East titles. He also won the 1976 NFL MVP award, and was one of the best quarterbacks in the league during a time when you had Hall of Famers like Terry Bradshaw, Roger Staubach, Bob Greise, and Fran Tarkenton, along with Ken Stabler, Ken Anderson and others leading their teams.

But Jones got injured at the start of the 1978 season, and his reckless style of play was starting to catch up with him. He was traded before the 1982 season to the Rams, but played one year before retiring. The injury that shortened his career-a neck injury.

Peyton Manning will most likely be released by the Colts and will be a very sought after free agent. Jim Irsay is going to follow in his father's footsteps and will move forward with Andrew Luck at quarterback. The Colts might struggle at first but I don't think it will be for long. Manning will be playing the role of the Spartan warrior of long ago. Come back with your shield or on it. He could lead a good team to the top, or he could be carted off never to take the field again. But all I can think about is the line in Jurassic Park, when Dr. Malcolm is trying to convince John Hammond that creating dinosaurs is a bad idea:

Yeah but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.

Perhaps Manning should stop to think if he should even come back. The NFL is a better league with him healthy and playing. It will take a hit if Manning does as well and his injuries become too much to overcome. I wish Peyton Manning all the best, and most importantly health and happiness. Which he can have by walking away with his shield instead of being carried off on it.