Peyton Manning: QB's Win-Now Attitude Is the Perfect Mindset for Denver Broncos

Peyton Manning is well aware there are lingering doubts about his health—and about his ability to deliver on the field, despite his age—but he's not worried about that.

The way he sees it, he's in Denver to win now, in 2012, and he'll deal with all of the doubt when the time comes.

Denver fans can rest assured that there are very, very few quarterbacks who want to win more than Manning does. It is his biggest asset. And now that his little brother has shown him up and has won twice, that desire will only grow stronger.

This is the guy who wouldn't talk to Eli for weeks if his little brother managed to beat him in a game of backyard touch football. For the next eight months, nothing else will be on his mind other than winning.

Manning is also a realist. He knows he's not 25 anymore. Time is ticking down for him, and he doesn't have much of it left in this league, which is, in his case, kind of a good thing. He knows that if he's going to win, he needs to do it now.

"I realize I don't have 14 years left, by any means," Manning told the Associated Press' Arnie Stapleton. "This isn't something where I'm just building a foundation to do something in two years or three years. This is a 'now' situation. We're going to do whatever we can to win right now. That's all I'm thinking about right now."

The Broncos haven't won a Super Bowl since 1999. They haven't even won a conference championship since the same year. The fans are clamoring for a championship, and they want it now. They probably weren't going to get it immediately with Tim Tebow under center.

Manning is the best chance the Broncos have to deliver a championship as soon as possible, and everyone in Denver knows it—particularly John Elway, the last guy to bring salvation to the Broncos.

"Anytime you've got a guy like Peyton Manning on your team, you've got a chance to win," Elway told the AP. "And players know that … and so a lot of guys that are out there that are free [agents] want to go to a place where they have a chance to win a championship. So it's a huge benefit for us."

That win-now mindset is exactly why the Broncos wanted Manning and no one else. They wanted a proven winner who will put in the time to make sure that not only is he at his best, but the entire team is at its best, too.

That mentality, in itself, makes the $96 million worth it.