The two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl XLIV felt like a coronation for a king, but it turned out to be no more than a commencement for a court jester. Peyton Manning is everywhere. Pitchman for everything from Sony Bravia televisions to Oreo cookies, while making a couple of cameos on Saturday Night Live. Before the Colts loss in Super Bowl XLIV, Manning was universally looked at as the NFL's best quarterback. But could it be that the great Peyton Manning has been overrated all these years? Overrated? Yes, I said overrated. With all Manning's regular season greatness, why is it that his postseason performances have been nothing but average? In the regular season, Manning is a quarterbacking wizard with a stellar 131-61 record over his 12-year NFL career. But in the postseason, where greatness is defined, Manning has a penchant for coming up short. It seems the millions of pundits who praise Manning, calling him the greatest quarterback of all-time, conveniently leave out his unimpressive 9-9 postseason record. Manning's 9-9 record postseason, where you can only lose one game, illustrates Manning's inability to produce in pressure situations. Six of Manning's ten postseason appearances have ended in first game losses, including three when the Colts were the AFC's number one seed. The millions of sportswriters that spew out their Manning ministries, also conveniently leave out the fact that Manning plays 2010 NFL football. The NFL in 2010 is a league where expansion has ballooned the number of teams to 32, which has somewhat diluted the NFL talent pool. The NFL in 2010 is a league that continues to cosset its quarterbacks, as if they were an untouched infant. Not to mention the new and improved 5-yard illegal contact rule on receivers, a.k.a ?the Manning rule?. The rule was reemphasized by the NFL in the 2004 season after Manning and other Colts players complained that New England was allowed to be physical in a 2003 Colts playoff loss to the Patriots. 2010 NFL where salary cap is king, therefore limiting teams flexibility to sign players and/or manage their roster. The last thing the millions of pundits who preach the ?Manning is the greatest quarterback of all-time? gospel conveniently leave out is the plethora of first-round selections he has had the privilege to play with on offense. Let's see here, there was RB Marshall Faulk, LT Tarick Glenn and WR Marvin Harrison before he got there. There was RB Edgerrin James in 1999, WR Reggie Wayne in 2001, TE Dallas Clark in 2003, RB Joseph Addai in 2006, WR Anthony Gonzalez in 2007, and RB Donald Brown in 2009. Now ask yourself what elite quarterback couldn't pile up prolific numbers with that kind of offensive talent around and/or supporting them? Drew Brees, yes. Tom Brady, yes. Ben Rothelisberger, yes. Phillip Rivers, yes. Aaron Rodgers, yes. So is Manning special or is it his supporting cast that resembles a war chest of nuclear weapons that is special? In his 12-year career Peyton Manning has piled up very impressive career statistics. But one shouldn't inhale his statistical smoke screen and start declaring him the best quarterback of all-time, after all he may not be the best quarterback in his own era. So for all his 300-yard passing performances, three touchdown days and impressive career statistics, Manning has only produced a 9-9 postseason record and one Super Bowl in 12 years. That's right, one, the same number of Super Bowl wins as Mark Rypien, Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson. So again I ask, could it be that the great Peyton Manning has been overrated all these years? The answer to that might be, Yes.