Did Peyton Manning turn in worst game by Super Bowl-winning QB?
If Peyton Manning wants to walk off into the sunset, he can do it with his head held high — and as a Super Bowl champion for the second time.
But it’s not as if Manning was the reason the Denver Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50. In fact, you can’t even say Manning managed the game, really. After all, he turned the ball over twice — once with a telegraphed interception to a defensive lineman in the red zone.
Here’s a look at Manning’s statistical work stacked up next to some of the other Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks who had less-than-sterling statistics in their teams’ victories:
| Quarterback | Team | Super Bowl | Comp | Att | Yards | TD | INT | Other |
| Peyton Manning | Denver Broncos | 50 | 13 | 23 | 141 | 0 | 1 | 5 sacks, 1 fumble lost |
| Ben Roethlisberger | Pittsburgh Steelers | 40 | 9 | 21 | 123 | 0 | 2 | 1 sack, rushing TD |
| Trent Dilfer | Baltimore Ravens | 35 | 12 | 25 | 153 | 1 | 0 | 3 sacks, 1 fumble |
| John Elway | Denver Broncos | 32 | 12 | 22 | 123 | 0 | 1 | 1 rush TD |
| Jim Plunkett | Oakland Raiders | 18 | 16 | 25 | 172 | 1 | 0 | |
| Joe Theismann | Washington Redskins | 17 | 15 | 23 | 143 | 2 | 2 | 3 sacks |
| Terry Bradshaw | Pittsburgh Steelers | 9 | 9 | 14 | 96 | 1 | 0 | |
| Bob Griese | Miami Dolphins | 8 | 6 | 7 | 73 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bob Griese | Miami Dolphins | 7 | 8 | 11 | 88 | 1 | 1 | |
| Johnny Unitas, Earl Morrall | Baltimore Colts | 5 | 10 | 24 | 235 | 1 | 3 | 2 fumbles |
| Joe Namath | New York Jets | 3 | 17 | 28 | 206 | 0 | 0 | Super Bowl MVP |
Defense won this game for the Broncos, just like the defenses of the Steelers and Ravens won their respective bowls, for sure. Roethlisberger is a great quarterback, no doubt, but he played a poor game this particular Super Bowl — it just wasn’t his day.
The difference with Manning, more like that of Dilfer, is that his team has expected this level of performance most of the season. The formula didn’t change all that much.
How’s this for weird: Pair up the stats from Elway’s first Super Bowl win and those of Manning on Sunday. Very similar passing numbers. Of course, Manning didn’t have a rushing TD, nor did he execute a really cool helicopter run. So he’s got that working against him.
It’s also crazy to look back in the 1970s Super Bowls and see the string of single-digit completion games by winning quarterbacks. Unitas was knocked out of Super Bowl V, replaced by Morrall, and neither were effective in the game known as the “Blunder Bowl” — a 16-13 victory against the Dallas Cowboys. That game, with 11 turnovers, was probably the closest thing we’ve seen to Super Bowl 50 and its slew of mistakes and sloppy play.
(Namath’s game was included more for fun than anything. He wasn’t bad; he wasn’t great. He was good enough, and teammate Nat Snell was far more deserving of the MVP honors. But Snell didn’t sit by a pool and make a cool, shirtless guarantee.)
Is Manning the worst? The five sacks don’t look good for sure, but Roethlisberger’s game still is more of an eyesore. Of course, those are two two-time Super Bowl winners we’re talking about. Winning ugly is better than losing pretty, right?
