This was a real Hail Mary that unfortunately fell short.

Peyton Manning revealed during Monday night’s ManningCast broadcast of the game between the Bears and Vikings that he had reached out to perhaps the world’s most famous Chicago sports fan: The Pope.

Peyton, who hosts the show with brother Eli Manning, even showed pictures of the hand-written letters he sent to Pope Leo and his assistant asking His Holiness to be a guest.

Peyton and Eli, who were both two-time Super Bowl champion quarterbacks during their NFL careers, opened up about the efforts to get the Chicago-born pontiff — an avid Windy City sports fan — for their season opener.

“Kind of like when I failed to recruit Randy Moss to (University of) Tennessee, I couldn’t close the Pope,” Peyton said, referring back to his col

See Full Page