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posted February 2, 2007 at 17:09 in NFL Betting Trends

DREAM JOB SPORTS WRITING CONTEST MONTHLY WINNER

PEYTON MANNING IS GREAT, BUT CAN HE BECOME A SUPER BOWL LEGEND?

After all this time, the Super Bowl is a place that Peyton can call home. After eight seasons as the National Football League’s best active quarterback never to throw a pass in the Super Bowl, Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning has the chance to silence all of the critics who have said he will never win a championship after falling short in the playoffs for each of the past four years.

After four straight failed trips to the playoffs, including a loss to Pittsburgh last season, Manning finally got his Colts over the hump. He also exorcised the demons otherwise known as the New England Patriots by beating them for the first time in three playoff meetings. He had to rally his team from 18 points down to do it, all with a bruised thumb on his throwing hand , but he finally proved to everyone he could indeed win a big game.

And then he downplayed the importance of getting the Super Bowl monkey off his back, telling reporters, "I don't get into monkeys and vindication. I don't play that card,” on Super Bowl Media Day. But he will play in the Super Bowl for the first time in a nine-year career that already has all of the other credentials to put him in the Hall of Fame: seven Pro Bowls, two NFL MVP awards and a growing number of NFL records. He will make his 157th consecutive start (including playoff games) when the favored Colts (CURRENTLY -6.5 POINTS ON BETUS.COM) take on the Chicago Bears on Sunday in Miami in the biggest game of his life.

Drafted with the first overall pick in 1998, Manning has started every game in his career and compiled a 92-52 record. Since Coach Tony Dungy arrived in 2002, Manning and the Colts have won ten or more games every season (60-20). Manning already is in the top ten in NFL history in completions and passing touchdowns, and he has been among the top three passing yardage leaders in eight of his nine seasons. Many football analysts point to the Hall of Fame career of former Miami Dolphins QB Dan Marino as the greatest player to never win a Super Bowl and the Manning name surely would be added to Marino’s if he is to never win a Super Bowl. Manning though would like to end all that talk this weekend.

But playoff success had eluded him. He and the Colts were humiliated by the New York Jets 41-0 in 2002, then beaten twice by the Patriots -- in the AFC title game in 2003 and in a divisional playoff in 2004. Manning's failures in those games especially had many pundits doubting whether he could win the most significant games.

Those critics seemed to be validated in the first half of the latest meeting with the Patriots, when Manning and the Colts trailed 21-3 after one of his passes had been returned for a touchdown. But Manning came out firing in the second half and rallied his team to the greatest comeback in the history of conference championship games. He threw for 349 yards and led the Colts on an 80-yard touchdown drive to take the lead late in the fourth quarter.

"I'm so proud of the way our guys fought," Dungy said after that game. "I'm very happy for Peyton. He was very, very calm. He had to bring us from behind three or four times. It's just fitting. Our team went the hard way the whole year."

Until this season, it had been the hard way every year in the playoffs for the Colts. But now Manning has a chance to secure his place in NFL history as one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game by winning its biggest game.

DAN THE MAN'S PREDICTION FOR SUPERBOWL XLI - COLTS 35 BEARS 20

PEYTON MANNING DOES BECOME A LEGEND AND IS ALSO NAMED THE MVP AWARD WINNER AS HE THROWS FOR OVER 300 YARDS, TOSSES 4 TOUCHDOWNS, AND IS TRULY IN CONTROL THE ENTIRE GAME. IN THE TRADITION OF PAST SUPER BOWL QB GREATS LIKE MONTANA, FAVRE, ELWAY, AND BRADSHAW, MANNING SHOWS US ALL WHY HE IS ONE OF THE BEST EVER IN A MAGICAL PERFORMACE.

THE BEARS PLAY A GRITTY, HEART-FILLED GAME, BUT JUST DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TO MAKE IT A GAME AS THE COLTS DEFENSE STEPS UP HUGE ONCE AGAIN AND THE COLTS OFFENSIVE LINE DOMINATES, OPENING HOLES FOR RB'S ADDAI AND RHODES AND GIVING PEYTON THE ABILITY TO CREATE ALL OVER THE FIELD WITH WR MARVIN HARRISON AND TE DALLAS CLARK, AMONG OTHERS.

THE CHICAGO BEARS HAD A TREMENDOUS SEASON AND ITS DEFENSE FIGHTS GALLANTLY IN THIS GAME, MUCH LIKE IT HAD ALL SEASON LONG, BUT THIS IS THE COLTS’ DAY TO SHINE AND PEYTON MANNING'S DAY TO BECOME LEGENDARY.

Dan Leach entered the Dream Job Sports Writing Contest for this week and was chosen by BetUS Judges as our weekly winner. Congratulations Dan!! Enjoy your $100 Free Play!

Interested in entering the Dream Job Contest? Join BetUS.com today and visit our Free Contests section for more details and find out how you can enter this contest and qualify to win a $5,000 sports writing contract with BetUS! We would like to thank all contestants who particpated this week. Good Luck next week!

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