The Denver Broncos got a glimpse of what life could be like without Peyton Manning and it did not look all that bad. In their first game without their trusty quarterback, Brock Osweiler stepped in and got the win over the Chicago Bears. Now the question becomes where do the Broncos go from here as Manning deals with an injury and Osweiler moves forward with the hot hand?
Head coach Gary Kubiak was not ready to talk about the future following the 17-15 win over the Bears. Osweiler finished the day going 20-of-27 for 250 yards and two touchdowns. He got a lot of help from Ronnie Hillman who had 102 yards of rushing on the day and with Emmanuel Sanders out, the tight end tandem of Owen Daniels and Vernon Davis put up quality games. With the New England Patriots matchup on the horizon, does Osweiler get another starting nod?
"I knew that was coming," Kubiak said, via the Denver Post. "Here's the deal: We got healthier here today. We've got some guys on this team that we're trying to get healthy, so that's important. And we won our eighth game. So we're going to focus on winning today and enjoy winning and we'll go back to work next week. [Osweiler] can do everything. He's a very composed young man and the more he plays, I think, the better he's going to get. We [bootlegged] a little bit, not a lot. They were up the field quite a bit but the threat of us doing that, I think, helped us run the ball a little bit. He's a sharp young man."
According to Manning, he is working very hard to get healthy and get back on the field. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports that after the plantar fascia issue and the rib injury, Manning is doing everything he can to get onto the field against the New England Patriots. The quarterback wants to put the game against the Kansas City Chiefs behind him and prove that he can step up and be the quarterback everyone knows he is. Kubiak could be in a tough spot if Manning shows that he is healthy, but Osweiler is the one winning games.
Kubiak is not the only person that has confidence in the backup. Players like Demaryius Thomas and Cody Latimer made it clear that they had no problem with the quarterback change while Daniels noted that the backup did a great job of just being himself.
"He's like the nicest guy ever. He's like super polite, but super confident," Daniels said, via ESPN.com. "We've been seeing him in the huddle on Wednesdays all year. ... It wasn't a new thing to have him in there."
The improved run game was a nice addition for the Broncos this week. That is something Manning has yet to be able to benefit from as Hillman finally improved. Getting Sanders back on the field will be help for the team as well. With the Patriots ready for a showdown in Denver, the quarterback position will be a storyline all week.
