Let’s talk about Otto Graham for a minute, and then about Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning.

The Browns Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback announced his retirement following the 1954 season. He had just thrown for three touchdowns and rushed for three more to lead the club to a 56-10 rout of the Detroit Lions in the NFL Championship Game.

It was the second NFL title in their five years in the league and, counting the four straight crowns they garnered in the All-America Football Conference from 1946-49, it is their sixth league championship overall in their nine seasons of existence.

In addition, in the three seasons during that span in which they did not win a title, they still made it to the league championship game.

It’s an incredible feat that hadn’t been done before, and hasn’t been done since.

So Graham had accomplished just about everything he could have in his nearly decade in pro football, especially since he knew full well what all the great quarterbacks now understand, and that is that the quarterback’s main job is to win games, and ultimately the league championship. Anything less than that, regardless of how many touchdowns and yards they throw for, what their completion percentage is and what they amassed as a quarterback rating, represents a failure in the end on the part of the quarterback.

Because Graham was so great at that – because he is the greatest winner at that position in the game’s history – Hall of Famer Joe Montana, a quarterback who was also all about winning, calls him the greatest quarterback of all-time.

Quarterback is the most important position in team sports. If a team has a good one, then it has a chance. And if doesn’t, then it doesn’t. It’s that simple, and it’s why they pay those guys the big bucks.

But despite retiring, Graham, the heart and soul of those sensational early Browns teams, had left the door open for a cameo, telling head coach Paul Brown that if he couldn’t find a suitable replacement for him, he would come back for one more – and only one more – season in 1955. Brown didn’t find his man, so he put in a call to “Automatic Otto,” who returned.

The results were predictable, and just what Brown wanted, as Graham led the Browns to another NFL championship, throwing for two TDs and running for two more in a 38-14 blowout of the Rams, who were in their first stint in Los Angeles.

Indeed. It all worked out well – quite well, in fact – for Graham. It couldn’t have worked out better, when you get right down to it.

But at the same time, Graham was taking a huge risk. His legacy was already intact as having been not just one of the greatest quarterbacks in the game’s history, but, as mentioned, also one who was synonymous with winning. If he had come back and not won the NFL championship in 1955, then it would have put a dent into that legacy, at least perceptually. And perception is 90 percent of reality. Last impressions last, and he would not have been a complete success in that last year.

We bring up all this because of the situation involving Manning, whose Broncos face the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50 on Sunday night at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Cal. Manning, of course, is one of the greatest quarterbacks ever. He will still be recognized as such regardless of what he does in that game. In fact, he went into this season with the same persona, one that wouldn’t change even if he had been awful, and at times this season, he really was awful over an extended period for the first time in his football career, going all the way back to his youth league days.

That’s what happens when you’re going to turn 40 years old before long, have played in the NFL for 18 seasons and have battled neck and shoulder problems in the last year or so. It was so painful and such a big deal, in fact, that there was considerable speculation that he would retire after last season.

But Manning decided to come back. He didn’t want injuries to end his career before he was ready. He wanted to finish his career on his terms.

And that is important for Manning, particularly with the way this season has gone, with him getting a Super Bowl opportunity. Those are rare.

This may well be his final season. In fact, he has hinted as such, so much so that it would be a surprise if he didn’t retire after this season, regardless of how Sunday goes.

Manning has generally been looked upon as a great regular-season quarterback, piling up wins, yards and touchdown passes in bunches but then being unable to duplicate that success – either team-wise or individually – in the playoffs. He has been to three previous Super Bowls, winning only one, following the 2006 season with the Indianapolis Colts.

Of his two Super Bowl losses, the most demoralizing one was two years ago against the Seattle Seahawks, when his heavily-favored Broncos looked old and slow in losing 43-8. The game was over almost before it started. There is that remaining image of, on the first play from scrimmage in the game, the shotgun snap rocketing past Manning untouched and ending up in the end zone, where it was recovered by the Broncos for a safety. And it just went downhill from there.

Now Manning gets a chance at redemption – probably his final chance. If the Broncos win on Sunday, then everybody will forget the Super Bowl losses, even the one against the Seahawks, and his legacy will be that he went out as a champion.

But if he loses, then all those stereotypes about him will cling onto him forever.

His boss, Executive Vice President of Football Operations John Elway, kept losing in his Super Bowls until winning two straight and then retiring. His legacy went from being a regular-season star and a postseason failure into a Super Bowl winner. It’s the latter reputation that will be his for good.

Manning is hoping the same happens to him. That’s what Sunday is all about.