Peyton Manning underwent a cervical fusion today, according to Chris Mortensen. He will be out at least 2-3 months, which pretty obviously puts this season in jeopardy, and this type of procedure could put his career in jeopardy as well. I don’t expect the Colts to put Manning on IR right away, but I also don’t see them bringing him back after week 10 to play a few games if they are not in a playoff race.

Two days ago, I talked about Peyton Manning’s worth in wins, concluding that the average Hall of Fame QB–guys like Marino, Fouts, Kelly, Montana and Young, were worth about 2.6 wins over their backups over the course of a 16 game schedule. I think Manning is worth a little more than that, and working off the average projection (the over/under was 9.5 to 10 on season wins before this news) would make them about a 7 win team.

I was on the under for the Colts even before this news, so I’m going to say about 3 wins off my expectation for them this year makes them about a 6-10 team as my official prediction. I don’t see them challenging for the #1 pick, and I think they will still be equivalent or better than Jacksonville or Tennessee, but the playoffs would require a much better performance than we think.

[photo via Getty]