Wiedmer: If this is it, Manning gave his fans one heck of a ride

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In the strictest of football terms, Sunday night's Super Bowl 50 wasn't Peyton Manning's finest hour.

He didn't win the MVP trophy, as he did when he was the Indianapolis Colts' quarterback in Super Bowl XLI. In fact, his first-half interception and second-half fumble made this 24-10 Denver win more uncertain that it might have been.

And the 39-year-old future Hall of Famer seemed to sense as much long before this game began, thanking his teammates the night before by saying, "For letting me be a part of the journey." But he did a complete a two-point conversion that provided the final margin, and neither of his turnovers became a Carolina Panthers touchdown, which is really about all his job required.

Even losing coach Ron Rivera said afterward, a small but important compliment to Manning's mind, if not his body, "We couldn't turn them over."

Instead, the Denver defense kept turning the Panthers over with fumbles and interceptions and perhaps the most relentless pass rush ever seen in a Super Bowl.

So Denver linebacker Von Miller justifiably won the MVP award by turning Carolina quarterback Cam Newton into a fig newton. Or as the joke circulated the last few days among hopeful Denver fans went: What do Cam Newton and fig newtons have in common? They both crumble under pressure.

But for those of us in the Tennessee Valley, this was all about the former Tennessee Vol Manning, even if another former Vol - Malik Jackson - actually scored more points than Manning, the defensive lineman delivering Denver's first touchdown when he fell on a Newton fumble in the end zone.

Still, with words that most everyone who ever cheered the Big Orange - or Manning's time with the Colts or his four-year swan song with the Broncos after it looked like injuries might have ended his career - would gladly echo, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell observed during the trophy ceremony with words sweet and true: "Tonight Peyton, while I don't know if this is your last rodeo, it was one heck of a ride, and we all thank you for the ride."

What a ride. And right to the finish. Think of all the true athletic greats in team sports in this country who went out on top, with a championship, then retired. Michael Jordan couldn't do it. Or Joe Montana. Or Derek Jeter.

They played too long. Or their teams fell apart around them. Or they made poor decisions concerning when to retire and which team to join for their final rodeo.

Then there was John Elway, who won his second straight Super Bowl in January 1999 after so many disappointments, then called it quits at the age of 38.

And now there is almost assuredly Manning, who will almost assuredly call it quits while he can exit the game on top, and largely because Elway, now the Denver GM, assembled this amazing defense after watching the Broncos get crushed by Seattle two years ago.

So for all the great decisions Manning has made in his life, perhaps the best one was choosing Denver over, say, Tennessee, to wind down his career.

You want the perfect full circle to a career? Manning won his NFL-record 200th game as a starting quarterback in the 200th quarter of the Super Bowl.

Another circle: Manning began his football fame in Tennessee orange, played the majority of his professional career in Indianapolis Colts blue, but closed out his football days wearing both orange and blue as a Bronco.

He also said the right things at the finish, especially if he wants to become a pitchman for Budweiser beer.

As CBS asked him about retiring immediately after the game he said, "You know, I'll take some time to reflect. Go kiss my wife and kids. Drink a lot of Budweiser tonight. And thank the man upstairs."

It was Perfect Peyton. A little touching. A little corny. A little coy. Pretty much the same way he's been since first arriving on Tennessee's campus in the fall of 1994.

And the league will miss it in this era of look-at-me-first talent.

As former Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher said late Sunday: "He always had great respect for the game. He did it with dignity."

In truth, to retain that dignity into retirement he'll have to win one last game against a story by Al Jazeera America that claims he took the banned substance HGH while trying to recover from neck surgery before he joined the Broncos.

True or false, it won't strip him of his two Super Bowls or five regular-season league MVP awards, but it would sully his carefully crafted, squeaky clean, aw-shucks image.

But that's for later.

For now, we'll kick it back to CBS stalwarts Jim Nantz and Phil Simms, who recalled their final pregame meeting with Peyton on Saturday night.

Asking Manning what he wanted to be remembered by, the two men said he replied, "Being respected by my coaches and my teammates, and that I loved the game of football."

Sunday night, with what was surely the last NFL game of Manning's life, it loved him back one last time.

Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.