Peyton Manning Means Super Bowl or Bust for San Francisco 49ers

“Peyton Manning may come to the San Francisco 49ers!!! OMG! OMG! OMG!!!”

Too many people have Facebooked that or tweeted it in the last 48 hours.

One of the hottest free agents in NFL history has decided that he may sign with the 49ers.

Should that happen, winning the Super Bowl would be the only way the 49ers could have a successful season.

He’d be coming to a team that almost reached the big game with Alex Smith at quarterback last season. He'd be coming to a team that has upgraded its wide receivers corps this offseason with the addition of Randy Moss and Mario Manningham. He'd be coming to a team that has Michael Crabtree as its prime wideout, in addition to Vernon Davis and Delanie Walker as its All-Pro-caliber tight ends.

The possibilities appear endless. They really do.

“Manning connects with Moss for a 56-yard strike!”

“Manning finds Davis down the sidelines for an 82-yard touchdown!”

“Manning hits Crabtree on a crossing route on third-and-11 for a 49ers first down!”

How many fans would have loved to have heard that last line in the NFC Championship game in January?

Those calls probably will happen if Manning comes to San Francisco. Why wouldn’t they? Manning has the ability to make his teammates better, and those already there have lots of talent. Candlestick Park will become San Francisco International Airport North, hosting "Air Manning."

But there’s one kink that could throw this all off. It’s a kink in somebody’s neck—Manning’s in particular.

He’s had multiple surgeries to fix it. It could be repaired and iron-clad, but nobody knows that until he actually plays a game and gets hit. Then people get to see what happens.

There are only two outcomes: Manning gets up and keeps playing and isn’t affected by it at all; or he is injured and Colin Kaepernick gets the call, a second-year player who hasn’t played one down of regular-season NFL football.

It’ll be Kaepernick and not Smith because you know Smith won’t be sticking around if Manning comes.  (Twitter user @DavidHsuSeattle claims to be on a red-eye flight to Miami with Smith at this moment, 3:27 a.m., Sunday, March 18, 2012).

Should Manning be hurt for the year, then the 49ers are back to square one, playing with a quarterback that literally hasn’t played a full-speed NFL game in his career. That's when San Francisco will return to the basic, save-the-game-and-throw-it-underneath-until-it's-almost-too-late offense we saw last year.

If Manning signs with the 49ers, there’s only one option next season, and that’s a Super Bowl victory. Getting there isn’t good enough. Not with Manning throwing the ball and Jim Harbaugh coaching.

If Manning gets hurt, where will the 49ers finish? Regardless, should he get hurt, you'll see these posts:

“Manning is hurt! OMG! OMG! OMG!!! What do we do now?!?”