Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 11:34 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2012

Posted: 6:03 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2012

Plenty in the NFL were surprised to hear that Bill Polian was a casualty of the Indianapolis Colts’ disastrous season, but Marv Levy’s reaction went beyond that.

“Surprised isn’t the word,” he said Tuesday. “Stunned. Stunned, definitely.”

Before Polian enjoyed Super Bowl success as the architect of the Colts, he and Levy reached similar heights as general manager and coach, respectively, of the Buffalo Bills. And it was Levy who gave Polian his break into the league by hiring the magazine ad salesman to scout for Levy’s Kansas City Chiefs three decades ago.

“I don’t think he’s the best general manager in football, I think he’s the best general manager ever in football,” Levy said.

But Monday, Colts owner Jim Irsay began cleaning house after a 2-14 season by firing Polian, the club’s vice chairman, and son Chris Polian, the general manager, which likewise left quarterback Peyton Manning “stunned.”

It raises questions, including how the Colts deal with their situation at quarterback. They can draft Stanford’s Andrew Luck with the No. 1 pick but also have a March 8 deadline to pay a $28 million bonus to Manning, who missed the season because of neck surgery and is uncertain to play again. They could avoid paying the huge bonus by cutting him.

Monday, Manning told The Indianapolis Star he was confident he could “coexist” with Luck. What this means for Dolphins fans dreaming of Manning won’t be clear for months, but Star columnist Bob Kravitz predicted that Luck will be the Colts’ quarterback in 2012 and that Manning might be a Washington Redskin or – get ready – a New York Jet.

That’s not the only tidbit coming out of Indy that Dolphins fans won’t want to hear. Irsay plans to let the new general manager decide the fate of coach Jim Caldwell, and if Caldwell is done, a likely candidate would be Jeff Fisher, who interviewed with the Dolphins on Tuesday.

NFL Network reported that Fisher wants a team with a strong quarterback, making the St. Louis Rams and Colts logical destinations.

Kravitz, who had predicted Polian could be gone Monday morning, called Fisher “a perfect fit” for the Colts. The same cannot be said for Tony Dungy, the former Colts coach who told Kravitz he has no interest in filling Bill Polian’s former role.

“Most people seem happy the Polians are out,” Kravitz said of the atmosphere in Indianapolis. “They didn’t make a lot of friends, especially in recent years with the substandard drafts” and by not going all-out for a perfect season late in 2009.

Kravitz called Chris Polian’s lone season as GM “an unmitigated disaster.”

Manning was meeting with Bill Polian on Monday afternoon to outline an off-season rehabilitation plan when Polian was summoned to see Irsay.

“What’s that all about?” Manning asked Polian, according to The Star.

“I have no idea,” Polian replied. “I’ll let you know.”

An emotional reunion between the two soon followed.

“I’m sorry that it went down this way,” said Manning, who was drafted by Polian in 1998. “I always thought Bill and I might retire around the same time. You kind of hoped for that fairytale ending, after winning a Super Bowl.”

Manning added, “I’d be the first to tell you that had Bill not been here when I was coming out for the draft, I’m not sure how I would have felt about coming to Indianapolis.”

By then, Polian had established himself as a builder of Super Bowl teams in Buffalo and Carolina. Levy recalled a day in 1987 when Polian asked if Levy and the Bills would like to have linebacker Cornelius Bennett, the unsigned Colts draftee. Levy, naturally, was interested — until hearing it would cost two No. 1s and a No. 2 pick.

“I said, ‘Oh, Bill, no. Way too much,’ ” Levy said. “He talked to me for six hours. Finally, I said, ‘Bill, you’re so convinced, go ahead.’ And Cornelius was, I thought, the best ‘backer in the league for several years.”

Levy keeps in touch with Polian but hasn’t spoken to him since the firing, so he’s not sure what the next move might be for him.

“Whoever gets him is going to get the best,” Levy said. “He’s probably the person in football I’m closest to, the one I have unmitigated regard for. The successes we enjoyed were so tied to what he was able to contribute and do.”