Peyton Manning to Bill Belichick: "This Might Be My Last Rodeo"

Peyton Manning will, more likely than not, retire after the Super Bowl. That’s just my speculation, but I would certainly take the “retire” side of that bet now. He will almost certainly not make that formal announcement, though, until after the game, lest media day devolve into something crazy where every question is about Manning. (That should be in the sarcasm font.)

He provided some fuel to that when he shared with Bill Belichick, in the post-game handshakes after the AFC Championship Game, that this “might be my last rodeo.”

So if you had the Manning retirement talk as being one of the leading nontroversies of Super Bowl week(s), then congratulations.

Manning may have been in a different mindset a few weeks ago. He was not starting. His final game had been the debacle at home against Kansas City that was statistically his worst ever.

But since then, he came in off the bench to help win the San Diego game and get home field advantage, and while not playing spectacularly, has at least been solid in two playoff games. Oh, and his team is now in a Super Bowl. How many quarterbacks get to go out with their final game being a Super Bowl?

You would think that, when he looks back at it, breaking down at the end of the 2014 season, and then getting hurt and struggling in this last season, that it will be hard to top going out now.

[image via USA Today Sports]