2:25pm: Osweiler will start against the Bears in Week 11, head coach Gary Kubiak confirmed today. Kubiak stressed that the focus will be on getting Manning healthy, so he won’t dress for Sunday’s game — Trevor Siemian will back up Osweiler (Twitter links via Troy Renck of the Denver Post).
10:56am: Schefter has updated his initial report, clarifying (via Twitter) that Manning’s torn plantar fascia is actually in his left foot, not his right foot. Nonethless, as Schefter adds, it’s hard to imagine that Osweiler won’t be starting in Manning’s place next week.
10:16am: The foot injury isn’t a new one for Manning, who had it get worse on the turf in Indianapolis in Week 9, according to various reports. Mike Klis of 9News tweets that Osweiler appears likely to get the Week 11 start vs. the Bears, though the team has yet to make that official.
8:43am: Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning is coming off the worst game of his long NFL career, and according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (via Twitter), a foot injury may have played a significant role in the future Hall-of-Famer’s poor performance on Sunday. Schefter reports that Manning, who had been battling plantar fasciitis, had the injury worsen, suffering a torn plantar fascia in his right foot.
As Schefter explains (via Twitter), it’s possible to play through such an injury — Peyton’s brother, Eli Manning, was able to play through a fully torn plantar fascia during the 2009 season, for instance. However, according to Schefter, Peyton has a partial tear, which is even more painful to play through.
Manning became the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yardage on Sunday, but the milestone was the lone bright spot in a dreadful performance that included four interceptions and just five completions on 20 passing attempts. While it seems unlikely the 39-year-old will continue to play that poorly, he hasn’t looked right for most of the 2015 season, and he has also been dealing with a rib issue. Ultimately, given how Manning is struggling to push of his back foot, the Broncos may prefer to let him rest for a little while, giving Brock Osweiler a shot.
Osweiler, who turns 25 next Sunday, wasn’t great in relief of Manning in yesterday’s game against the Chiefs, but he at least injected a little life into the offense, throwing for 146 yards and a touchdown. If Osweiler gets some additional playing time this season, it could go a long way to determining his potential stock on the open market this winter, since the former second-round pick is in a contract year.
The Broncos would be crazy to start Manning against the Bears. This is the ideal opportunity for them to give Osweiler a live audition, something he hasn’t had in four years. They seem to be playing for the No. 3 seed, with the Bengals and Patriots running away for the bye slots. This certainly could derail the Broncos’ season, with dates against New England, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati still on their docket.