I was glad that Colts QB Peyton Manning finally was on a Super Bowl winner because he is truly one of the NFL’s greatest QB’s of all-time. But I thought it was a tad absurd that Manning was named the Super Bowl’s Most Valuable Player when he didn’t even play particularly well. How about one of those fellows in the trenches where the Colts dominated the Bears throughout the game?
Dave Berri agrees, but makes the salient point that it is much more difficult to evaluate the performance of football players than the performance of players in other sports (i.e., baseball) that do not require the same degree of reliance on teammates as football. After pointing out that Manning actually was statistically worse during this season’s successful playoff run than he had been in each of the Colts’ playoff failures over the past three seasons, Berri observes the following:

So what lesson has Manning learned? For his team to win, he must play bad?
No, thatís not the lesson.
There are actually two lessons. First, playoffs are a small sample and luck plays a substantial role in determining the outcome (a point made last Sunday in The New York Times). Secondly, teammates matter in football. Quarterbacks do not win or lose games all by themselves. This was true when Manningís team failed in the playoffs. And itís true this year as well.
So we should stop judging quarterbacks strictly in terms of whether their teams happen to win. Manning was not less of a quarterback when his team failed to win its last game. And heís not finally a success because his team happened to win its last game.

Berri also makes an interesting point about Bears QB Rex Grossman. Read the entire piece.