Everyone, including me, is guessing about Manning's future and Colts owner Jim Irsay's intentions.

Monday night,  Peyton Manning sat down for a pretty candid interview with the Indy Star. In the interview he said quite a few things of note, including the fact that he doesn’t really have a relationship with the Colts new GM and that any decisions about his future and any communication with him about his future would come from owner Jim Irsay. But Irsay and Manning haven’t talked beyond Irsay offering to help Manning in his efforts to find rooms and other amenities for his family during Super Bowl.

Manning also discussed the different atmosphere in the Colts facilities. An atmosphere where folks are walking on “eggshells” and don’t know what will happen next. To catch up any who is late: The Colts are in the midst of cleaning house and starting over. And such is the atmosphere at places where lots of changes are being made and no one has real feel for the man in charge. The only thing that is clear at this point is that for all intents and purposes Manning is no different from any other player and he acknowledges this directly:

“I mean, it’s 20 degrees, it’s snowing, the building is absolutely empty except when you see coaches cleaning out their offices,” he said. “I guess it’s the reality of the football world, just not something I’ve had to deal with very often. But I’m in there every day, so I have to sit there and see it. Everybody’s being evaluated and I’m no different. It’s not the best environment.

“I just want to pay tribute to all those guys. It’s unfortunate because so many of them have been such a big part of so many big wins here, and this is so … sudden. Their keys didn’t work the next day. There’s no other way to do it? I don’t know. That’s hard to see, all these people leaving.

“And I may be behind them. Who knows?”

The question was posed: Given all the changes, the fact the Colts appear to be in a rebuilding mode, does Manning even want to come back to Indianapolis?

“I don’t want to get into some kind of fan campaign with the owner, but I think it’s well documented that I want to play in the same place my whole career,” Manning said. “It’s been a privilege to play here. I love the fans, the city, the transformation of the fans, how our place has become the toughest stadium to play in, the fact our fans wear more jerseys to games than anybody else. It’s been fun to be a part of that.

It feels like saying Manning is done in Indy isn’t a bold prediction. Guessing where he ends up IS bold… unless you’re Rob Lowe or somebody. For Manning’s part he says he hasn’t decided to retire just yet. So get ready for at least another month and a half of writers writing ” should X team pursue Manning” or “X team IS interested in Manning.” By the time it’s said and done Manning’s Decision may be more painful for the public than Lebron’s.

On Jim Irsay, or as I call him “The Weed Brownie Tweeter (WBT),” I think everything he’s done so far completely makes sense. Cleaning house prepares fans for rebuilds so they don’t go through what Philadelphia fans went through this year when no one would fully commit or even tacitly admit that the team was in many ways starting over. The losses hurt that much worse when you’re told this is a team that’s ready to go when really they’re a team that’s getting it together. Even putting Manning back in his spot would put everyone in a bad position (including Manning)–the romanticization of Manning is very high right now, tempered only by his brother’s heroics. I don’t think you can insert Manning back into that team and plug-in-play. Best for parties to move on, and Irsay’s decisions thus far point to that being his plan.

I still think that Irsay’s intention all along was/is to hire Jim Tressel as coach and I stand by that. I don’t think that anyone takes a winning coach and turns him into a play reviewer. Now whether Tressel becomes head coach or offensive coordinator is another matter altogether.

Now we just have to wait and see if any of us have guessed WBT correctly.