Colts Top 10 Quarterbacks in Franchise History
By Evan Reller
Peyton Manning (1998-2011)
There is no other player who has meant as much to a franchise as Peyton Manning. He took the Colts from “Count On Losing This Sunday” to a perpetual Super Bowl contender. Lucas Oil Stadium is still the house that Peyton built and the reason the city hosted Super Bowl XLVI.
His legacy extend to the children littered all over the state who bear the name Peyton. You can’t find a high school football team in the state without a “Peyton.” Multiple stories have been written about the so-called “Peyton baby boom.”
His name is etched on the St. Vincent’s Children’s Hospital and he still makes regular trips to visit sick kids. Manning has made a long lasting cultural impact on Indianapolis and we haven’t even talked about his brilliance on the field.
Even before Manning went on to set every record in passing, before the neck surgeries that sidelined him for a year, he was a first ballot Hall of Famer. He won an unprecedented four MVP awards while he was with the Colts and led the team to it’s only Super Bowl win since moving to Indianapolis.
The Colts were perpetually in the playoffs, missing the postseason only two times when he was on the field (1998, 2001). The franchise was forever changed by drafting Manning in 1998.