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Ailing Peyton Manning benched: Broncos will start Osweiler against Bears

Whether he’s hurt or not doesn’t matter, the fact remains that Manning can’t hack it anymore.

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Kubiak and Manning spent an hour together Monday following what was arguably the worst game of Manning’s 18-year career. In Week 9 against the Colts it came down to Manning to lead a game-winning drive.

Kubiak told his Denver Bronco players Monday that because Manning is banged up physically, the team’s star quarterback would not play this week. Plus, he has practiced with the starters on almost every Wednesday since the season started. The Broncos have been holding onto him as the heir apparent to Manning but is he the heir apparent or just a space filler? He just said, ‘If you need anything throughout the week, Im here for you. “The pressure was on”. Denver has to get him in rhythm immediately. “I didn’t get a chance to see a lot of him, but when I did see him I liked what I saw”. But that was nearly as many attempts (30) as Osweiler had in the previous three seasons combined.

Siemian threw for more than 2,200 yards and seven touchdowns as a senior at Northwestern, where he played in 44 games.

The Chiefs won 29-13 on the Broncos’ home turf.

But for anyone to match that number, they’ll have earned it. And put up production that’s thus far been unprecedented. The Broncos had to modify the system for Manning, putting their 39-year-old quarterback in the pistol or shotgun, which affected the run game and the play-action possibilities.

“Im not a coach, for one thing, ” Manning said. “They were able to keep the pressure on”.

“I feel for them when it doesn’t go good, but they handle it and I handle it”, Archie said, per the AP.

In the meantime, it’s a chance for the Broncos to finally evaluate Osweiler, whom they drafted in the second round in 2012, meaning he’s in the final year of his rookie contract. “It may be one of the best defensive performances in a long time”. This season he had just nine TD passes and a league-high 17 interceptions.

-Alex Smith was at his game-manager best Sunday in Denver. He threw, like Morton, four interceptions. He hasn’t had an interception since the season’s third game back on September 28 against Green Bay. “There’s that unknown there, especially on a short week”. “I kind of heard about the game yesterday, but I haven’t talked to him today. We felt like we had a really good play and a really good grasp of what we were doing”.

Osweiler will be making his first start since December 22, 2011, when he threw for almost 400 yards in Arizona States 56-24 loss to Boise State in the MAACO Bowl. That’s the sort of big play the Broncos have been missing this season. “It’s preparation. It’s everything”, Kubiak said Monday. “That’s not what it is at all. I will try to take advantage of this week and try to get to feeling better and getting healthy”.

Sources told ESPN that Manning has battled plantar fasciitis for weeks but is believed to have aggravated the injury against Indianapolis on November 8, resulting in a partial tear of his plantar fascia. But he will be fine, bounce back, and hopefully get healthy. O’Shaughnessy suffered the injury October 25, then re-injured it last week during practice.

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Safety Tyvon Branch (foot) left Sunday’s victory over Denver in the first half with a right foot injury. Running back Matt Forte is still seen as day-to-day with a knee issue so the Broncos will have to focus on stopping Alshon Jeffery and Martellus Bennett as they are Cutler’s primary targets.

DENVER CO- NOVEMBER 15 Quarterback Peyton Manning #18 of the Denver Broncos walks on the field following the Broncos loss to the Kansas City Chiefs as Von Miller #58 follows at Sports Authority Field Field at Mile High