Colts QB Peyton Manning said he was "Stunned" after hearing that the Indianapolis Colts had fired team vice chairman Bill Polian and his son, Chris, the Colts' general manager Monday. Manning said he was actually in a meeting when Polian was summoned for a meeting with owner Jim Irsay. Manning said...

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"I was stunned, I was surprised, I was saddened and just disappointed that it all happened this way," Manning told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen by telephone. "I was actually meeting with Bill in the training room and we were talking about my rehab schedule, what I could and couldn't do in the facility under the new (collective bargaining agreement) and my checkpoints when he was summoned to see Irsay. He actually chuckled and said, 'We'll see.' "

"Bill and I and Chris Polian has been here the whole time, too, had a great ride with tremendous highs and it makes me very sad that this ends on such a negative note," said Manning. "I knew when the Colts hired Bill with his track record in Buffalo and Carolina, that I would be very happy to be a part of an organization he ran. And that proved to be true. I knew he would hire the best coaches, provide the best possible surroundings, give me great teammates and he did that and I will be forever indebted to him."

"I used to think nobody hated losing more than I did or was more miserable after a loss. I decided it was a tie between me and Bill," Manning told Mortensen. "And I stay in the building pretty late and he was always here working, too. Personally, my goodness, so many thoughts. He was one of the last guys to leave my wedding with Ashley (his wife). This is very, very tough."

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