updated 6:15 p.m. ET Jan. 22, 2007

INDIANAPOLIS - The demons can relocate to some other team’s locker room. Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy are Super Bowl material now.

Manning led the Colts from 18 points down in the second quarter, and on a game-winning 80-yard drive late in the fourth, for a wildly entertaining 38-34 victory Sunday over the New England Patriots in the AFC title game.

He took Dungy along for the ride, helping his coach finally get to the big game and make some history along the way. In two weeks, Dungy will join Chicago’s Lovie Smith in the Super Bowl, where together they will be the first black head coaches to meet in the NFL’s biggest game.

“It means a lot,” Dungy said. “I’m very proud to be representing African-Americans. I’m very proud of Lovie.”

Manning wouldn’t concede that a huge weight was lifted with this win, the biggest in his nine-year NFL career.

“I don’t get into monkeys and vindication,” he said. “I don’t play that card. I know how hard I worked this season, I know how hard I worked this week.”

The Colts are the early favorites to beat the NFC champion Bears in the Super Bowl, by a touchdown.

Sunday’s game was a show for the ages, and Manning was the star. He threw for 349 yards and one touchdown and brought his team back from a 21-3 deficit, the biggest comeback in conference title-game history.

The Patriots (14-5) lost in the championship game for the first time in six tries and saw their hopes of winning four Super Bowls in six years — a la the Steelers of the late 70s — derailed by Manning and Co.

Joseph Addai capped Manning’s late drive with the winning score, a 3-yard run with 1 minute left to help the Colts (15-4) complete the rally and give them their first lead in the game.

After the final score, Manning was on the sideline, his head down, unable to watch. Brady threw an interception to Marlin Jackson and the RCA Dome crowd went wild. One kneel down later and Manning ripped off his helmet to celebrate.

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“I said a little prayer on that last drive,” Manning said. “I don’t know if you’re supposed to pray for stuff like that, but I said a little prayer.”

Not only was it a win for Manning, the All-Pro, All-Everything son of Archie, it was a riveting, back-and-forth showcase of two of the NFL’s best teams, best quarterbacks, and yet another example of why football is America’s favorite sport.

It was anything but a by-the-book game, and that started becoming obvious when New England left guard Logan Mankins opened the scoring by pouncing on a fumbled handoff between Brady and Laurence Maroney that squirted into the Indy end zone midway through the first quarter.

It got worse from there for Manning, who telegraphed a throw to the sideline that Patriots cornerback Asante Samuel snatched and took 39 yards into the end zone for a 21-3 lead.

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Then, the game plan changed because it had to, and the game morphed from another Manning meltdown into something much more.

He led the Colts on an 80-yard drive late in the first half for a field goal to make it 21-6. In the third quarter, he was at his cruel best, dissecting an exhausted Patriots defense for a pair of long drives and scores.

The first came on a 1-yard quarterback sneak. The second was capped by a 1-yard pass to Dan Klecko, a defensive tackle who came in as a supposed decoy at the goal line. A circus catch by Marvin Harrison for the 2-point conversion tied the game at 21.

“I’m so proud of the way our guys fought,” Dungy said. “I’m very happy for Peyton. He was very, very calm. He had to bring us from behind three or four times. It’s just fitting. Our team went the hard way the whole year.”

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