by Kent Sterling
Peyton Manning’s playoff record will cause him to furrow his brow for the rest of his life.
Indianapolis Colts fans have seen it before – a discombobulated and frowning Peyton Manning trudging off the field knowing that yet another opportunity to lead his team to a playoff triumph had passed.
Once, Manning finished a postseason with a win. Thirteen times, he failed. During nine of those appearances, Manning went one-and-done. Few quarterbacks in the history of the NFL who are remembered as equal parts excellence and failure, and yesterday’s loss was the latest and perhaps last chapter of a storied but flawed career.
The defeat was thoroughly disappointing for Broncos fans, but brought smiles to an Indianapolis Colts fan base that suffered through seven similar discouraging episodes when he couldn’t find the same ease of operation that propelled his teams through outstanding regular seasons.
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So where does this game rank among Manning’s disappointing efforts?
Here are the 13 postseason losses in order – listed from the best to the worst (* for one-and-done appearance).
- 1 – *2010 vs. NY Jets – Wild Card Round (17-16) – 18-26, 225 yards, 1 TD, 0 Ints, 108.7 PR, 9.42 adjusted yard per attempt
- 2 – *2005 vs. Pittsburgh – Divisional Round (21-18) – 22-38, 290 yards, 1 TD, 0 Ints, 90.9 PR, 8.16 adjusted yard per attempt
- 3 – *2008 vs. San Diego – Wild Card Round (23-17) – 25-42, 310 yards, 1 TD, 0 Ints, 90.4 PR, 7.86 adjusted yard per attempt
- 4 – *2007 vs. San Diego – Divisional Round (28-24) – 33-48, 402 yards, 3 TDs, 2 Ints, 97.7 PR, 7.75 adjusted yard per attempt
- 5 – *2000 vs. Miami – Wild Card Round (23-17) – 17-32, 194 yards, 1 TD, 0 Int, 82.0 PR, 6.69 adjusted yard per attempt
- 6 – 2009 vs. New Orleans – Super Bowl (31-17) – 31-45, 333 yards, 1 TD, 1 Int, 88.5 PR, 6.84 adjusted yard per attempt
- 7 – *2012 vs. Baltimore – Divisional round (38-35) – 28-43, 290 yards, 3 TDs, 2 Ints, 88.3 PR, 6.05 adjusted yard per attempt
- 8 – *1999 vs. Tennessee – Divisional Round (19-16) – 19-42, 227 yards, 0 TDs, 0 Ints, 62.3 PR, 5.40 adjusted yard per attempt
- 9 – *2014 vs. Indianapolis – Divisional Round (24-13) – 26-46, 211 yards, 1 TD, 0 Ints, 75.5 PR, 5.02 adjusted yard per attempt
- 10 – 2004 vs. New England – Divisional Round (20-3) – 27-42, 238 yards, 0 TDs, 1 Int, 69.3 PR, 4.60 adjusted yard per attempt
- 11 – 2013 vs. Seattle – Super Bowl (43-8) – 34-49, 280 yards, one TD, 2 Ints, 73.5 PR, 4.29 adjusted yard per attempt
- 12 – 2003 vs. New England – AFC Championship (24-14) – 23-47, 237 yards, 1 TD, 4 Ints, 35.5 PR, 1.64 adjusted yard per attempt
- 13 – *2002 vs. NY Jets – Wild Card Round (41-0) – 14-31, 137 yards, 0 TDs, 2 Ints, 31.2 PR, 1.52 adjusted yard per attempt
And before you think the year the Colts won the Super Bowl was some kind of watershed period for Manning and he was the reason the Colts won the Lombardi Trophy, that statistics don’t bear that out.
His passer ratings during those four playoff games were 71.9, 39.6, 79.1, and 81.8 – all less than Jay Cutler’s career passer rating of …., and his highest adjusted yards per attempt during that run (6.89) would rank as his fifth highest among his losses.
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In 24 career postseason games, Manning enjoyed only six with a passer rating of 100+. In 16 regular season games in 2013, Manning put up 10 performances with a passer rating of 100+.
In many of the playoff losses, there were other moments that helped the Colts lose. There were Mike Vanderjagt field goal misses, Hank Baskett’s onside kick fumble, missed tackles, dropped picks, turnovers, Nick Harper being tackled by Ben Roethlisberger, and others. But if Manning gets the credit for regular season excellence (and seven consecutive 12+ win seasons qualifies as excellent), he needs to be debited for his postseason losses.
When Manning retires, and that day may come before camp comes in late July, he will be remembered as one of the best 10 quarterbacks in the history of the NFL. His playoff mediocrity will keep him from being considered among the very best.