Titles Are Elusive for Old Quarterbacks Who Move On From left: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images; Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images; Jim Prisching/Associated Press Brett Favre moved late in his career from the Packers to the Jets to the Vikings and still enjoyed a measure of success. Old soldiers never die, Gen. Douglas MacArthur once said, they just fade away. Old quarterbacks also never die, they just fade into a different uniform. Peyton Manning, who turned 36 Saturday, will be wearing a navy blue-streaked white horse with an orange mane on his Broncos helmet next season instead of a royal blue horseshoe on a Colts helmet. Over the years, other star quarterbacks changed lives and logos late in their careers. Some with sadness: Johnny Unitas and Joe Namath. Some with success: Joe Montana, Brett Favre, Y. A. Tittle, Norm Van Brocklin and Bobby Layne. But the X factor for Manning's future is that, of this group, only Montana had to cope with a lengthy absence. Manning missed the Colts" 2011 season after four surgical procedures on his neck, which lessened his arm strength. Doctors have cleared Manning to resume playing, but by doing so they also cleared blitzing linebackers to sack him. Neck and all, seldom softly. If neck damage reoccurs, his Broncos life could be similar to the way Unitas, with various arm injuries, walked away from the Chargers in training camp at 41 in 1974 despite all his Baltimore Colts rings, and the way Namath, hobbled by knee operations, and a torn hamstring from water skiing, was benched at 34 by the Los Angeles Rams in 1977 - long after his Super Bowl III guarantee with the Jets. In Manning's quest for another Super Bowl ring, he must remain healthy, as Montana did for the Chiefs after having played only one game for the 49ers in 1991 and 1992 because of various injuries. Favre, Tittle and Layne performed positively, but only Van Brocklin won an N.F.L. title, in 1960 with the Eagles in the pre-Super Bowl era. At 34, he was two years younger than Manning is now. Van Brocklin, whose 554 passing yards for the Rams against the New York Yanks in 1951 set a one-game record that still stands, asked to be traded after the 1957 season because he wanted to call the plays, not those sent in by Coach Sid Gillman. In his third season with the Eagles, they won the N.F.L. championship game, 17-13, over the Packers, then he joined the expansion Vikings as their first head coach. Layne, who never wore a face bar, partied and passed the Lions to N.F.L. championship-game triumphs over the mighty Cleveland Browns in 1952 and 1953. Traded at age 31 to the Steelers, then an also-ran franchise, early in the 1958 season, he rejoined Buddy Parker, his former Lions coach. He sparked a 7-2-1 surge as the team finished third that year. With a 9-5 record in his 1962 finale, the Steelers were second. Tittle, considered expendable in 1961 because the 49ers preferred the younger John Brodie and Billy Kilmer, was traded to the Giants for Lou Cordileone, a second-year guard. Aware of Tittle's renown with the 49ers, Cordileone said, "Me, just me for Tittle!" Turning 35 during that season, Tittle joined a Giants roster that had won the 1956 championship as well as 1958 and 1959 Eastern Conference titles with the future Hall of Famers Frank Gifford, Roosevelt Brown, Andy Robustelli and Sam Huff. Succeeding Charlie Conerly at quarterback, Tittle guided the Giants to three consecutive Eastern titles, although they lost all three championship games, two to the Packers, one to the Bears. His 1963 N.F.L. Most Valuable Player award, for throwing a then-record 36 touchdown passes, enhanced his Hall of Fame résumé. After the Giants tumbled into last place in the East in 1964 with a 2-10-2 record, he retired. Despite four Super Bowl victories, Montana, battered by various operations and with Steve Young having taken over as the 49ers quarterback, was traded to the Chiefs before the 1993 season. At 37, he led the 11-5 Chiefs to the A.F.C. championship game in Buffalo but sustained a concussion when he was flattened by the Bills pass rusher Bruce Smith in a 30-13 defeat. The next season, he took the 9-7 Chiefs to the wild-card round, completed 26 of 37 passes for 314 yards and one touchdown in a 27-17 loss to the Dolphins, and retired. Favre, for all his unretirements, was at first effective for the Jets and the Vikings. After a 2008 trade from the Packers shortly before he turned 39, he sparked the Jets" 8-3 start but a torn biceps tendon doomed them to a 1-4 finish; the Jets were fined $125,000 for not reporting the injury. Joining the Vikings in 2009, Favre lifted them to a 12-4 record and the N.F.C. title game. Then he threw an interception, often his fatal flaw, in overtime and the Saints won, 31-28. In 2010, finally, he and the Vikings struggled, and Minnesota finished 6-10. And now Peyton Manning, in Broncos orange instead of Colts royal blue, will try to accomplish what, of all those other old quarterbacks, only Norm Van Brocklin did: winning the ultimate game of the N.F.L. season in a different uniform.