Gary Kubiak: "I should have made the decision to not play" Peyton Manning

Peyton Manning, we hardly knew ye.

The former star and five-time MVP Manning, now at 39 years of age, has plummeted to earth this season.

Manning’s been bad, leading the NFL with 13 interceptions coming into the Week 10 game against the Kansas City Chiefs, but he wasn’t as bad as we saw Sunday night.

Manning, an 18-year veteran, threw four interceptions through two and a half quarters of the 29-13 loss to the Chiefs, and then was benched by Gary Kubiak in favor of Brock Osweiler.

After very little success on the offensive end with Manning in — the team trailed 22-0 at that point — Osweiler led the Broncos to 13 points in the loss. Osweiler also went 14-24 for 146 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Manning, on the other hand, went 5-20 for 35 yards with four interceptions. He even fumbled once, though it was recovered by Ronnie Hillman.

“I was protecting him, I was worried about him,” Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak said of benching Manning.

“I’m disappointed in myself,” Kubiak continued. “I should have made the decision not to play him. He practiced Friday, felt good. He came out of practice Friday, Saturday his ribs were bothering him a little bit. And I should have probably right there said, ‘No. He’s not going to go this week.'”

“But, he’s a competitor,” Kubiak said. “He wanted to play. Aqib (Talib) was out. DeMarcus (Ware) was out. He wanted to go. He felt like he should go. But I’m disappointed in myself because I should’ve made the decision yesterday and I didn’t. So it’s on me.”

A classic leadership move by Kubiak to place the blame on himself. What did Manning think?

“Made some really bad plays and put our team in some really bad positions in the first series, turning the ball over,” Manning said. “Giving them good field position. It just seemed like it got me off to a bad start and never could find any type of rhythm or continuity out there at quarterback and really put our team in a bad spot all night.

Not only is Manning likely beyond his prime at this point, he’s also injured. And at 39 years old, injuries simply take more time to heal. Going into the game he was listed with both a foot and a rib injury, while he was listed with a right shoulder injury going into the loss to the Indianapolis Colts last Sunday.

Kubiak went onto say Manning will start next Sunday against the Chicago Bears if he is healthy. When healthy, Manning is still a solid NFL quarterback and his Broncos are still 7-2, clearly in the lead of the AFC West.

More Broncos – Chiefs news:

Report: Peyton Manning has torn plantar fascia, worsened in loss to Chiefs

Gary Kubiak: “Peyton is our quarterback”

Peyton Manning: “I felt good enough to play, it ended up hurting our team”

T.J. Ward sounds off on Chiefs: “They are a pretty dirty team”

Recap: Chiefs beat-down Broncos 29-13

Gary Kubiak: “I should have made the decision not to play Peyton Manning”