Let this soak in for a second: If the Baltimore Ravens win the Super Bowl next month, they won't only let legendary linebacker Ray Lewis ride off into the sunset a world champ for the second time, but their quarterback, Joe Flacco, will have as many playoff victories as the great Peyton Manning.
Manning and his Denver Broncos, of course, lost on Saturday to Flacco and the Ravens, ending the Broncos playoff run at one as they entered the postseason as the No. 1 seed in the AFC and arguably as the Super Bowl favorite.
Manning, widely known as one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game, is 9-11 in his 20 career playoff games, with four of those victories coming in 2006 when the Colts beat the Bears in the Super Bowl despite Manning throwing just three touchdown passes compared to seven interceptions in that postseason run.
Flacco is 7-4 in his five NFL seasons, having one at least one playoff game in each of his years in the league. But public perception would tell you Flacco isn't near the quarterback Manning is.
It just goes to show how much weight a Super Bowl title pulls for an NFL quarterback.
Even though Tony Romo is 1-3 in the postseason and has lost three do-or-die Week 17 games, he can still make his mark. Just think, one Super Bowl winning season could mean four more postseason wins, an above-.500 postseason winning percentage and a place right up there with the greats. Or, he can continue to be really, really good, fail to win "the big game" like Manning did for so long, and now continues to do, and be known as a failure.
It's a pretty ridiculous mindset to lay the fortune of an entire team on one player, especially when you look at Manning's numbers during that 2006 postseason when all the stars aligned for the Colts even though he didn't play well. But that's just the way it is.
