The "team" was built around Peyton Manning like no other team in history has been entirely predicated entirely on one player. Today's game is an obvious testament to that.
That's right, and that's why I laugh when people try to put Brady in Manning's league. Uh, no, sorry, and it isn't even close.
Now that Manning is gone (I will not be surprised if he ends up retiring), they will need to blow up the entire team and start from scratch. They mortgaged the future around him and unfortunately for them it didn't pay off much. One SB in 16 years doesn't seem a worthy tradeoff for what's coming for that franchise.
No, and to make matters worse, Polian has absolutely tanked when it comes to draft picks as lupi mentioned earlier. He does OK with lower picks but is AWFUL with first round picks. His last several picks (excluding the 2011 pick) were AWFUL:
2010 Jerry Hughes DE (never plays)
2009 Donald Brown RB (now third string)
2008 no pick (gave to SF for rights to Tony Ugoh, who they cut)
2007 Anthony Gonzalez WR (always injured)
2006 Addai RB (an OK pick)
2005 Marlin Jackson CB (an OK pick derailed here by injuries)
His good string was 2001-2003, when he picked (in succession) Wayne, Clark, and Freeney.
The coaching staff is terrible too. Simply awful.