Manning's moment is here

MIAMI -- Maybe he's goofing on us. Maybe this is Peyton Manning's latest comedy gag, Super Bowl style, in which he follows such memorable performances as ''Cut that meat!'' and booting brother Eli in the butt with a full-blown punking of the global media. Maybe, just maybe, he's luring us into a reality TV scene by yanking our journalistic chains.

Or maybe he's simply being sincere in baring his soul: The most pressure he ever has faced, he says, is NOT a football game that will place him among the all-time legends if he wins -- and reopen a wicked wound if he loses. No, it was a play in the eighth grade that forced him to deliver one performance in front of the school, then an encore attended by his two smart-aleck brothers. Seems he took a class, Musical Theater, to wiggle out of a computer course and was forced to accept an important role in a production called ''The Boyfriend.'' To Manning, that was more terrifying than facing the Bears in Super Bowl XLI.

So he claims.

''They gave me the role of Miguel,'' he said. ''In one of the scenes, I had to do the tango with Lola. I had the wardrobe: black pants, red ruffled tuxedo shirt and a yellow cummerbund. It was a full-on tango. Now that's pressure. But I did it. I studied it and went full-speed on that tango. There is video on it. Don't look for it. It's deep in the Manning vault, I can assure you.''

Come Sunday evening, I suspect the old Miguel-related queasiness will emerge in the belly of pro football's most celebrated underachiever. If greatness was based entirely on statistics, Manning would be well on his way to anointment as the best quarterback ever. But there is this little matter of affixing a championship to his resume, a necessity that has played its own prank on him. At long last, having overcome the traditional obstacle in New England, Manning and the Indianapolis Colts have reached the big game. But should they lose to the Bears, it's possible Manning, going on 31, never will pass this way again in a powerhouse conference in a free-agency era.

And if he falls short and never returns, well, meet Dan Marino. Few passers have been as prolific as Marino, yet he'll be the first to bemoan the crater in his career: He lost his only Super Bowl. ''There is no doubt that in the back of his mind somewhere, he knows how important it is to win this game -- so no one will question his ability to win a Super Bowl,'' said Marino, now a CBS and HBO analyst. ''That's always going to be there until he wins it, and I think he understands that.''

Cruel? Absolutely. But such are the demands made of elite quarterbacks. A ringless Manning won't be considered less of a player, but if he can't call himself a champion, the ache will last a lifetime. Given the choice, he'd rather be grouped with John Elway and Brett Favre, who achieved colossal numbers and Super Bowl glory, than with Marino, Jim Kelly, Dan Fouts and others who never reached the mountaintop.

''I always felt I would have a chance to play in this game,'' Manning said. ''I certainly would have hoped to have been here earlier. You certainly want to take advantage of the opportunity if you can. That's what we have right now, a small window of opportunity. It's one you don't take for granted. You better try and do it when you have the chance.''

It's a tribute to his tireless preparation that he was ready for questions about pressure. If the eighth-grade play was a cute story, Manning was all business when discussing how he handles big-game expectations. He knows it's the predominant angle, whether he'll thrive in his defining moment or struggle as he has in previous postseasons. His techniques haven't changed, with a quote by former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Chuck Noll serving as his reference point.

''He says pressure is something you feel only when you don't know what you are doing. And that is how I feel. I get prepared,'' Manning said. ''I prepare as hard as I possibly can. Sure, you feel nervous and anxious, but I don't feel pressure because I feel I have done everything I could to be prepared. There have been plenty of games where I wish I could have this throw back or wish I'd have seen that linebacker. But I've never left the field saying I could have done more to get ready. That gives me peace of mind. That is how I am dealing with it this week.''

Juxtapose those thinking-man's-QB comments against the unfortunate words of Rex Grossman, who said he wasn't duly prepared for Green Bay because it was New Year's Eve. Then you'll grasp why Manning, despite the intense scrutiny, rates as a considerably surer bet Sunday. For the Bears to win, they must play keep-away from Manning, control the clock with the running game and avoid mistakes from Grossman. It's doable, but not as doable as the counterargument that Manning will take advantage of a cover-2 defense -- specifically, weak links Chris Harris and Danieal Manning -- with downfield strikes to Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark. ''The three-headed monster,'' Tank Johnson called them. When Manning has two weeks to prepare for the game of his life, you worry about everything, including ad-libs at the line of scrimmage.

''I can't hear what he says from the film,'' said Brian Urlacher, charged with the taxing assignment of slowing Manning. ''But maybe when we get there, I can pick something up. Right now, if we read our keys and play fast, we should have no problem.''

Oh, the Bears will have some problems. As part of the master plan, Manning talked to past Super Bowl quarterbacks about the experience. He wouldn't disclose names, but Marino was one. ''The real challenge is to maintain some normalcy in your week. It's all about routine,'' Manning said. He contacted some of the QBs; others contacted him.

Hey, no equal treatment for Rex?

If the Manning-Grossman matchup seems grotesquely lopsided, like South Beach vs. International Falls on a February night, the veteran was typically classy in his assessment. ''Rex has done an outstanding job,'' Manning said. ''If you are a quarterback in the NFL, and I am biased, it's the hardest job in sports. If you lead your team to a Super Bowl berth, you are doing a great job. I remember seeing him throw those long balls on my Tennessee Volunteers back in college. Similar to my younger brother, playing in a big market there in Chicago like New York, you are going to be more scrutinized.''

Yet no one's performance Sunday will be dissected more microscopically than Peyton Manning's. If he wins, he is Phil Mickelson finally breaking through in a major. If he loses?

There's always acting.

Jay Mariotti is a regular on ''Around the Horn'' at 4 p.m. weekdays on ESPN. Send e-mail to inbox@suntimes.com with name, hometown and daytime phone number. Letters run Sunday.