Kubiak: "My gut told me to turn it over to Peyton"

The Denver Broncos were dominating the San Diego Chargers in just about every facet of the game. Problem was, the two facets they weren’t dominating were pretty important ones, turnovers and points.

Early in the third quarter,  just after their fifth turnover of the game, the Broncos finally relinquished the lead. Trailing 13-7 with the division and the one seed on the line, head coach Gary Kubiak felt his team needed a spark. Kubiak pulled first-year starter Brock Osweiler, who really wasnt playing poorly, and inserted future hall-of-famer, Peyton Manning.

“Sometimes you just feel as if the team is looking around for that guy,” the head coach told media after the game. “That tremendous leadership type of stuff, that’s what I felt… My gut told me to turn it over to Peyton, let him lead this football team.”

The move paid serious dividends, the “Manning spark” lead to an immediate touchdown drive, powered by the running game and aided by two Manning throws. It was just the first of two comeback drives orchestrated by “The Sherriff.” In the end, Denver scored 20 points in the second half on their way to the biggest win of the season.

“I was very proud of him,” Kubiak said. “He’s worked very hard to stay there for us, and there couldn’t have been a bigger day to be there for us.”

Manning came to the rescue, sparked the team and helped lead them to a fifth consecutive division title and a third No. 1 seed in four years. The Broncos will now have two weeks to rest up, get healthy and prepare for the playoffs. They will also have two weeks (or as long as they let it last) to deal with speculation over who will be their quarterback when that time comes.