Super Bowl or Bust: Super Bowl Edition

Here we are the most highly anticipated game in the sporting world, mere hours away from kickoff. Some would point to the International Crochet Knit Offs as the pinnacle of competition and they may have a point. But nothing says sports like the Super Bowl, a one game championship that the average fan has little chance in hell of attending. An event watched by billions of people whose eyeballs companies will compete for and fork over millions of dollars for half a minute of their viewing. I love capitalism and that is not sarcastic. It's the perfect economic system for natural selection, survival of the fittest.

But hey, this isn't the BCS, it's the NFL where most teams realistically have a shot at the Super Bowl. The exception is Detroit of course. Unfortunately, we are at the point where 29 other teams besides the Lions are busy arranging tee times, so it's now down to two teams: The Colts and The Bears.

It really is a must win for the Colts and Payton Manning because he might only get one shot at it. The off-season doesn't look to be kind to Indy. They face the loss of a fourth of their starting defense to free agency, and surely more defections if they win it all. The Colts are projected to be over the salary cap by around five million, and if they don't get under it they face a penalty in future years of a loss of cap room. This team is almost past the point where they had a shot at a dynasty with their current personnel.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is calling Peyton, are you going to answer it? Unlike other sports winning is more important then numbers, especially for quarterbacks. I know it sounds silly to be talking about this now, but this game secures his legacy. Only two out of 23 quarterbacks enshrined in Canton have not played in a championship title game at the pro level. But fifteen of them have won at least one Superbowl (sixteen if you include Warren Moon and his five Canadian Football titles). Will his stats be enough? Perhaps but a win will ensure it.