"If recent Super Bowls — this one included — have taught us nothing else, it is that you're not even in the conversation if you don't have a star quarterback.

Are you listening, Tennessee Titans?

Granted, the Titans are lacking elsewhere. They need a pass rush, need a secondary, need a running game. Considering those shortcomings, Matt Hasselbeck's arrival was a godsend. Where would this team have been without him?

But going 9-7 is one thing. Making a Super Bowl run is another. And with all due respect to Hasselbeck, he's taken one team (Seattle in 2005) to the Super Bowl. He's not taking another.

With that in mind, some of you want a quick fix. And the quickest fix is Peyton Manning.

Think about it: an NFL superstar returning to the state where he blossomed as a college quarterback, elevating the Titans from a regional entity to a national brand.

Sorry, folks, but it's a bad idea. A very bad idea.

Nothing against Manning. If it was five years ago and he was on the market, maybe it would have worked. But we live in the world of here and now, and the here-and-now Peyton Manning is 36 years old and has a neck condition.

Besides, the Titans have their quarterback of the future, Jake Locker. Early returns are incomplete but promising.

Too, it's pretty clear that Manning wants nothing to do with serving as a mentor for someone who ultimately will replace him. He doesn't want to do that for Andrew Luck in Indianapolis, and he wouldn't do it for Locker in Nashville."