Peyton Manning's Status as Greatest Ever Hinges on Winning 2014 Super Bowl

In a deplorable display of classlessness and ignorance, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay took a backhanded shot at former quarterback Peyton Manning by alluding to his desire to have more than one Super Bowl ring. While the owner should be thanking his lucky stars to have had the services of such a tremendous and gifted employee, he did touch on the only knock on Manning's impressive legacy. 

Everything that Manning has accomplished on the football field puts him in outstanding position to lay claim to the throne of greatest quarterback of all time, except for one thing, and that is the thing most typically referred to first in these discussions: Super Bowl wins. 

This season presents a golden opportunity to get that second ring, which would likely be his last. 

At 8-1, the Denver Broncos are clearly one of the best teams in the league this season. With Manning guiding the offense, Denver has a shot at being the highest-scoring team in the history of the NFL's regular season. 

The 2007 New England Patriots currently hold that record with 589 points scored. The Broncos are on pace to score 659.6 points. 

Of course, Manning is at the heart of this success. He's already thrown for 3,249 yards and 33 touchdowns this season. This has helped him post a quarterback rating of 121.0, which trails only the 121.1 from his amazing 2004 season as the highest mark in that category for any season. 

All of the success this year only further entrenches his name in the NFL record books, and when it is all said and done, Manning stands a great shot of sitting atop the all-time career list for nearly every statistical category that one would ever discuss regarding a quarterback. He's already currently top three in categories like touchdowns, completions and yards. 

This success is also likely to lead Manning to an unprecedented fifth MVP award. 

Still, unless he can crack this below list of quarterbacks with multiple wins in the Super Bowl as a starting quarterback, he should not be in the discussion for greatest ever.

Quarterback	Super Bowl Wins	Super Bowl MVPs
Joe Montana	4	3
Terry Bradshaw	4	2
Troy Aikman	3	1
Tom Brady	3	2
John Elway	2	1
Roger Staubach	2	1
Bob Griese	2	0
Ben Roethlisberger	2	0
Bart Starr	2	2
Jim Plunkett	2	1
Steve Young	2	1
Eli Manning	2	2

Now, winning Super Bowls alone is not enough to grant a quarterback entrance into the discussion of the greatest. After all, former Raiders great Jim Plunkett won two, and he can't even get into the Hall of Fame.

However, given the fact that Manning's prodigious career already has him in this discussion, he needs a ring for both ring fingers to separate himself from the crowd. The dominance in stats alone is not enough to carry him.

Manning has enjoyed playing at a time in the league when passing has become easier and more frequent. This makes comparing the stats of Manning, Tom Brady or Drew Brees to those of a quarterback like Terry Bradshaw completely irrelevant. Bradshaw only twice threw for more yards than Manning already has in this season, and he never threw more than 28 touchdowns.

But even beyond that, there is something mythical about a quarterback who led his team to the biggest victories, and it's why Joe Montana gets so much more play for greatest ever than Dan Marino.

For the most part, Marino's stats dwarf those of Montana. However, Montana has four Super Bowl rings. He won three MVPs in those Super Bowls and in the one he did not win MVP, he led the iconic late drive to earn the comeback victory over the Bengals in 1989.  

When Manning inevitably goes into the postseason this year, it will be his 13th trip in 15 seasons—not counting the 2011 season he missed with injury. 

In that time, he hasn't been able to win half of his postseason games. He is just 9-11. 

Obviously, this is a bit of a double-edged sword. Manning has led teams to the postseason that otherwise never would have had the talent to make it. That is to his credit. Still, in the end, these teams have often played at a level below their regular-season standards while in the postseason. 

That is the last thing people want to have associated with the player identified as the greatest quarterback of all time. 

Manning can go a long way toward erasing this criticism with a dominant run in this postseason. 

I realize Manning hasn't announced a retirement, or even hinted at one, and he'd have a shot to add a Lombardi Trophy in future seasons, but how realistic is that? 

Manning will be turning 38 not long after the completion of this Super Bowl. Manning's current boss John Elway is the oldest quarterback to ever win a Super Bowl. He was 38 when the Broncos defeated the Atlanta Falcons in 1999, and that Broncos team was loaded. 

The Broncos were second in rushing and seventh in passing in the NFL that season, as Elway was taking a backseat to running back Terrell Davis—who won the NFL MVP that year by rushing for over 2,000 yards. 

Manning is not in a position to get this kind of help. This current Broncos team is built around Manning, and with an offensive line that is struggling to block and a defense that can't manage to defend the pass, Manning and the Broncos face a Super Bowl window that ends this season.

With the restrictions of the salary cap, it is difficult for teams to sustain success. It also makes overhauling areas of weakness a process.

With Manning taking more abuse than ever this season, being a veteran of neck surgery and with his arm strength already being questioned, Manning's performances are going to start tailing off, and the Broncos will not be able to stay dominant by switching to an offense led by, say, Knowshon Moreno.  

It is this year or nothing for Manning and this current group of Broncos, and that means the grandness of Manning's legacy rides in the final three months of this NFL season.