Peyton Manning to Cardinals Pipe Dream Ends as Arizona Uses Kevin Kolb Option

Fans of the Arizona Cardinals can kiss their Super Bowl hopes goodbye now that the team has to go with Kevin Kolb instead of Peyton Manning under center.

I can only imagine the depth of dismay and disappointment the Cardinals faithful must be feeling right now, especially considering all the frenzy and excitement that surrounded the team's pursuit of Manning.

It's like your dad telling you that he's thinking about buying you a Bentley, but instead you end up getting a Prius. The Prius is cool, gets the job done, and is Eco-friendly, but let's be frank, a chance at a Bentley only comes around once in a lifetime for most people.

Peyton Manning only hits free agency once in an NFL lifetime, and the Cardinals had a shot to get him.

By picking up the option on Kolb though, the Cardinals essentially sealed the fate of their organization in regards to Manning. A $7 million roster bonus has a tendency to do that.

Here's the grim report from Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen of ESPN:

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The Arizona Cardinals were informed they would be wise to proceed without Manning as a candidate to join the team and will now retain quarterback Kevin Kolb, paying him a $7 million roster bonus due after a Friday deadline of 4 p.m. ET.

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Instead of of a jovial press conference introducing the new era of Cardinals football, you are left with statements like this from coach Ken Whisenhunt, via Brad Biggs of the National Football Post:

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"Obviously something very unique and unexpected presented itself," coach Ken Whisenhunt said in a statement released by the club. "We've said it many times: if there's an opportunity to make our team better we'll explore it; we view the potential of adding a first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterback as one of those. The organization quickly put together an aggressive plan to go after it. We're proud of that and feel very strongly about what we have to offer as a team and as an organization. In the end it didn't work out but from our perspective it was very positive and we certainly don't have any regrets about it."

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Sorry Cardinals fans, it's looks like you have to settle for option No. 2.

To be fair to Kolb, he does have potential to be a good quarterback in the league, and as long as he has Larry Fitzgerald on his roster, Kolb is going to put up some okay numbers.

All Arizona fans have to do is put Kolb's abysmal 2011 season behind them, and hope that the future is much brighter.

Unfortunately, I don't see how that could be possible.

With Manning, the Cardinals were setting themselves up to win the NFC West for the next few years, including a possible shot at the Super Bowl.

With Kolb under center, they're going to have a hard time in their division, especially if Manning goes to San Francisco.

It's the difference between good and great for the Cardinals. In the NFL, that difference can be staggering.

It was a good dream while it lasted, Arizona.

Hey, at least the weather is nice.