Peyton Manning is one of the biggest names in the NFL and a household name even to viewers who don’t obsessively remember names, dates and stats.  Manning earned his fame through hard work as he led his team the Indianapolis Colts to a Super Bowl championship at XLI and also scored an MVP title.  He has also won eleven Pro Bowls, six AFC Player of the Year awards and is also the Colts all-time leader in total career wins, passing touchdowns and passing completions.  Fox Sports and Sports Illustrated even named him the NFL player of the decade.

In addition to his quarterback performance, Manning has also appeared on TV commercials, hosted Saturday Night Live and guest-starred on The Simpsons.  You would have thought Peyton Manning would have stayed with Indianapolis for his entire career (if not his entire life) but then something unexpected happened.

The disastrous year that was 2011.  Actually, for most of 2011 things were going well, and Manning even signed a new contract for 90 million dollars to play five years as a Colts quarterback.  However, in May 2011, he underwent neck surgery to alleviate longstanding neck pain and arm weakness.  By September, he had to undergo another surgery: a level one cervical fusion procedure.  This caused Manning to miss the entire season of 2011–a disastrous season for the Colts, one that ended with only two wins and fourteen losses.

Manning went from never missing an NFL game to missing an entire season of play–and the Colts responded in un-kind, by releasing him from the team on March 7 of this year.  However, Manning is far from retired.  In fact, he is itching to get back into the game, and has been visiting teams across the NFL.  The latest team to receive a visit will be the Tennessee Titans this week.  He has also visited Denver and Arizona in a short period of time, and has also expressed interest in Miami.

However, Tennessee is the only team of that lot that had a winning record last year.  Might this be significant in Manning’s decision?  What do you think?  Where will Manning sign?  Will he bring the team to greatness or did Indianapolis make the right call?