Denver Broncos lead Chicago Bears 17-9

Peyton Manning’s understudy, Brock Osweiler, was mistake-free, and that’s exactly what the Broncos needed from the birthday boy (he turned 25 on Sunday). They ran the ball effectively in a 17-15 win over Chicago on Sunday.

The Broncos would never say this openly, of course.

Coach Gary Kubiak even joked he might work a regular delay into the travel schedule.

Manning has sore ribs and a torn plantar fascia in his left foot.

The best and worst from the Broncos’ 17-15 win over Chicago in Week 11 action on Sunday… The team said that Manning won’t be starting because of injuries. Give the Bears credit for coming up with a season-high five sacks, for not committing a single penalty, and for putting together the touchdown drive that put them in position for the two-point try. In his first career start, Osweiler complete 20 of 27 passes for 250 yards, 2 touchdownss and 0 interceptions for a passer rating of 127.1. On that sequence, John Fox uncharacteristically went for it on fourth-and-goal with plenty of time left in the fourth quarter, only for Jay Cutler’s pass to fall incomplete, leaving at least three points on the board. We’ll get the initial reactions to the game. He was hoping to provide Manning with the same assets to lead the Broncos to another Lombardi Trophy.

“4th and goal. Broncos defense holds on a Cutler incompletion”.

Manning has struggled mightily this season with nine touchdowns compared to 17 interceptions. For the Broncos, it’s not worth it to mortgage the future on an aging Peyton Manning-no matter what he’ll be next year-if it means losing a guy they think could be the QB for the next 10 years.

Osweiler’s presence should assuage a few of those concerns. That’s the only sensible answer to the quarterback question facing Denver leading into a showdown against the Patriots. He clearly felt prepared and didn’t seem rattled.

The Bears had three chances in the fourth quarter to tie the game with a touchdown and two-point conversion, but failed on all three.

According to Osweiler, his time against Kansas City last week helped tremendously.

That doesn’t show much faith in his offense, which is somewhat understandable considering they hadn’t scored a touchdown all day at that point. Gould followed with field goals of 46 and 37 yards to cut the deficit to 7-6 before Brandon McManus’ 24-yard field goal widened the margin to 10-6 as time expired in the first half. “He’s a receiver who plays defense”. “I think those are pretty good ingredients for a good defense in the National Football League”. The Ravens also lost running back Justin Forsett, who broke both bones in his right forearm. Brock did a great job of handling it and obviously C.J. He’s just playing behind a Hall of Famer. “He went out there and did his job today”. It’s more realistic to see the larger point Anderson was making – that Osweiler has strengths that we couldn’t see before. Doug Martin did that and it was the second-biggest story of the game.

The next quarterback era was delayed, the Broncos were delayed, Brock’s parents were delayed.

Cutler threw for 265 yards in his first meaningful game against Denver since the trade to Chicago in 2009, even though the Bears were missing running back Matt Forte (knee) and receiver Alshon Jeffery (groin, shoulder). He finished 2 yards short of tying Barry Sanders’ record for most without a TD.

Then tight end Vernon Davis picked up 18 yards with a play fake screen pass.

Osweiler wasted no time asserting himself with a 48-yard touchdown to Demaryius Thomas on Denver’s first possession of the game.

This is the way it will likely look for the Broncos in the coming weeks. They’ll have to play to Osweiler’s strengths while recognizing the importance of managing his limitations.