Super Bowl Predictions 2012: Peyton Manning Drama Will Overshadow Big Game

The biggest story of Super Bowl XLVI will be Peyton Manning.

Don't believe me? Just ask Rob Lowe. The actor decided to send out a tweet to more than 244,000 followers that the Indianapolis Colts quarterback will not return to the NFL. It started a media firestorm that hasn't been seen since the height of Tim Tebow mania.

This season's Super Bowl just happens to be taking place in Indianapolis. Colts owner Jim Irsay has taken to his bizarre Twitter feed to extinguish any rumors about Manning's future, but that hasn't stopped the speculation from going crazy.

Since the Colts own the first overall pick in the draft, it's believed they are planning to select Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck to lead the franchise for the next decade or more, just like Manning had done before his serious neck injury.

So, with a massive media contingent about to converge on Indianapolis, there's no way the two teams will be able to avoid the spotlight.

Manning's one of the great quarterbacks to ever grace an NFL field and whatever decision the Colts make, whether it is to release him or keep him, will have a major impact on the league moving forward into next season.

Any time a player holds that much weight, he's sure to grab attention.

It might actually be a good thing for the participating teams, though. The pressure is usually focused solely on them during the two-week build up, but Manning should help diffuse some of that hype to allow them to focus more on the game and less on the media.

A team like the New England Patriots would love for Manning to steal the show. They have always tried to fly under the radar with their politically correct answers in press conferences, so a major story like Manning's future would play right into their hands.

There are so many different ways the storyline could play out. A game can only be broken down so many ways; the Manning situation has seemingly endless possibilities.

That's why he'll be the star of the show when everybody arrives in Indianapolis, just like old times.