CBS HAS SOMETHING TO CHEW ON.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH

The question was posed to Peyton Manning by CBS studio analyst Dan Marino in a taped interview that ran about an hour before kickoff of Sunday's Super Bowl XLI: If you win, is it any way humanly possible that you can do more commercials?

Manning had a good chuckle. Turns out, he'll have more than the last laugh, too. Or at least a meaty grin, as he's the next portly pal of Marino's to join him in one of those cheesy weight-loss food-stuff TV spots.

If there was an edible storyline that the network tried to thread through its day-long telecast, it was that we could be among the privileged to bear witness to the ``the coronation of Peyton Manning,'' which is how Super Bowl rookie play-by-play man Jim Nantz phrased it at least a couple of times.

Why not. As long as you've got Prince not going so crazy as he pranced around in the purple rainfall during halftime, more royal hyperbole can't be improper.

The network home of the AFC definitely had something to gain by the Colts avoiding any kind of malfunction and being fitted for a crown to assure conference superiority. And despite a game that'll be remembered for a sloppy number of fumbles on both sides, assume CBS will hang on to a feeling of satisfied closure for its season after Indianapolis was able to slosh away with a Manning-directed 29-17 victory.

Studio analyst Boomer Esiason provided the closing caption during the postgame show when, after he was reminded that he was only twopoints off on his pregame prediction (he thought the Colts would win 31-17), he added: ``I knew this was all about Peyton Manning. This is Peyton Manning's Super Bowl. I don't know if he won the MVP, but if he did (and he did), finally! All right? Validation! Get off the guy's back. He'll be one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time when all is said and done with.''

And when CBS' future ad sales are all said and done, it'll surely accept a few more Manning ads for credit cards, cellphones, satellite dishes, TVs and sports apparel to fill the time between all the backstabbing on the upcoming season of ``Survivor.''

More observations of the good, bad and ugly weather:

The wet factor: CBS' constant problems dealing with the condensation -- from a constantly smudgy line-of-scrimmage camera lens to one camera guy getting knocked into a puddle outside an end zone -- didn't seem to dampen the network's spirits or ability to work through it.

Maybe the next great innovation in sports TV technology should be a camera with a windshield wiper.

A network spokesman said the production crew had to cut away from many of its better angles to wipe away moisture buildup before going back to customary camera shots.

Even Nantz noted on the air: ``It's not easy conditions for anyone, even our crew.''

Nor was it easy for analyst Phil Simms to convey how the rain really affected play.

``The rain is absolutely having a little effect,'' he said curiously with three minutes left in the first quarter.

No league mouthpiece here: Again, we've come to be more comfortable with the tone and content of the NFL Network's 3 1/2-hour pregame than all the football-speak, gimmick-heavy stuff that ESPN and CBS served up.

A Boomer-less cast of Steve Mariucci, Deion Sanders, Marshall Faulk and Sterling Sharpe on ``NFL Total Access'' seemed far less ad-heavy and genuinely more introspective about the topics of the day -- most notably the race-related storylines about have two black coaches facing each other.

Said Sharpe at one point: ``You can't minimize the impact, but be careful not to overstate it. When you get twoAfrican-American head coaches, you kind of wonder what would happen if one of the guys gets here again next year, except this time against a white coach to prove they deserve to be here. I'm not trying to create a race war, but sports is the ultimate proving ground. ... Not to minimize what Lovie and Tony have done, but it would be interesting to see if one of them got back here next year to coach against a white coach and what the media would have to say.''

CBS' pregame cry: If trying to move male viewers to tears and/or draw more females to the fray was a goal during the network's four-hour-plus window, consider it done. The sap factor loaded up on pieces about late Bears running backs Brian Piccolo and Walter Peyton, former Dallas Cowboys teammates swapping out a kidney, families who worked in coal mines, Bill Walsh's leukemia battle and, the cry-de-gras, dragging Katie Couric trick-or-treating as Farrah Fawcett's sister to do (another) piece on former Super Bowl MVP Hines Ward going to find his Korean roots.

The only thing that brought us to tears: a CBS promo for David Letterman that had him in a Manning jersey, Oprah Winfrey in a Brian Urlacher jersey, and the two of 'em sitting on the couch pretending to be on a date.

More stuff to rewind on the TiVo: A home-video clip of Manning performing the tango in an eighth-grade play made it on CBS and the NFL Network pregame shows. Sanders replied: ``He won't be on `Dancing With The Stars.''' Don't bet against it. ... A slo-mo replay of the Bears' Devin Hester watching himself on the stadium scoreboard video as he's finishing off his game-opening kickoff return for a touchdown. ... Nantz relaying a story in the closing minutes about how Colts coach Tony Dungy refuses to curse, but once was called on it when he said he'd agree to appear on FSN's ``Best Damn Sports Show Period,'' and then promised he'd never say it again. ... Was that a blunt wedged atop in the left ear of the Colts' Dylan Gandy before he put his helmet back on after the national anthem? ... Couldn't mistake the music used for the Colts' player introductions: The Who's ``Won't Get Fooled Again,'' which is used as the theme song for ``CSI: Miami'' on CBS.

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Photo:

Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning, center, holds up the Vince Lombardi trophy as, from left, Tony Dungy's wife Lauren, Dungy, CBS' Jim Nantz and Colts owner Bob Irsay look on.

Eliot J. Schechter/Getty Images