following the final snap of super bowl xli sunday night, in the commerical break between the end of the game and the trophy presentation, my friends and i discussed who should be named the mvp of the game.

"has to be rhodes or addai.  almost 200 yards between them and addai led the team in catches," i said.

"could be bob sanders...he forced a fumble and had an interception," a friend added.

after a long, contemplative pause, we all looked at each other and knew what we should have all along...it's gonna be peyton.

in that moment, we all felt pretty foolish for even considering the possibilities.  short of an otherworldly effort by another colt, all peyton needed to do was basically not lose the game singlehandedly, and he was assured the rozelle trophy, car, and immortality that accompanies those tangible items.

this game was all about him.  from the onslaught of commercials, to the legacy of his surname, to the well-documented failures in the past, he had to win this game and had to bring home the mvp for validation.  just as the red sox had to beat the cards two years ago after overturning the curse of the bambino, peyton had to overcome his nemesis (pats/brady/belichick) and then go on to win the super bowl. 

what no one will remember from this event is how close the mvp consideration was (or should have been).  we will look back on his peyton's career, this season, and even this game as being terrific for him, and forget the real reasons the colts came out the victors: running game and defense.  the defense forced 5 turnovers, and held the bears to 11 first downs and 30% on 3rd down conversions.  the running game piled up almost 200 yards on over 40 carries, controlled the clock, and wore down the bears' vaunted defense.

as for manning - take away the 53 yard bomb (on a badly blown coverage) to wayne for the first colts touchdown, and his numbers are hardly extraordinary: 24/37 for 194 yards and 1 interception.  add to that fact that 40% of his completions (and 35% of his yards) went to addai on dumpoffs, checkdowns, and screens, and you will see that he hardly shredded the bears' defense with his laser, rocket arm.  instead, the rookie running back made urlacher, briggs, etc. miss on the wet surface with a variety of moves, jukes, and spins after the catch.

this is not to say that peyton isn't an excellent quarterback.  he is certainly the best of our generation and any fan would love to have him lead his/her favorite team each week.  in an age of brashness, egotism, and laziness, he prepares tirelessly, cares so much about the integrity of the game, and is undeniably a great spokesperson for the league.  he may be remembered as the best quarterback of all time when his career is over.

however, he needed this win and this mvp trophy to solify his legacy, just as the league needed him to win it to solidify their place as the biggest and best among the 4 major sports.  for him, it means not only that he can win the big one, but that he can be the "most valuable" member of his team in that pursuit.  for the league, it means that doing things "the right way" (without performance-enhancing drugs or hidden caches of weapons, but instead with hours of preparation and a goofy "everyman" persona) will get you to the pinnacle of your desires and dreams.

its just too bad that this partnership works out well enough to blind the media and fans during their voting process.