"The Indianapolis Colts will play the final game of a wayward season Sunday at Jacksonville. What will follow is uncertain and shot with trepidation.

Imagine, if you can, next season. Imagine it without quarterback Peyton Manning.

Without wide receiver Reggie Wayne.

Without defensive end Robert Mathis.

Without center Jeff Saturday.

Without offensive lineman Ryan Diem, perhaps without linebacker Gary Brackett.

They are pillars of a team and an era, a team that won an average of 111/2 regular-season games from 1999-2010, played in two Super Bowls and won one.

Manning is 35, recovering from Sept. 8 neck surgery, his third procedure in 19 months. If the Colts don't deem him healthy and pay him a $28 million option bonus in March, he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

Wayne, Mathis, Saturday and Diem are in the final year of their contracts.

So are wide receivers Pierre Garcon and Anthony Gonzalez, linebacker Philip Wheeler, defensive tackle Eric Foster, quarterback Dan Orlovsky and tight end Jacob Tamme.

Who stays? Who goes?

What of Jim Caldwell and his coaching staff after going 2-13 this season with one game to go?

Jim Irsay has avowed his faith in vice chairman Bill Polian and vice president/general manager Chris Polian, but the Colts owner could have a change of heart.

Uncertainty lurks at every turn.

If Manning is healthy, do the Colts keep their core and shoot for another Super Bowl, or two, over the next four years?"