Four storylines in Bears-Broncos game

Head coach John Fox will face his former team for the first time since the Broncos fired him last season.

Will Peyton Manning play for the Broncos again this season? When he came into the game the other night, he certainly looked like he could give the Broncos a little more life on the offensive side of things than they’ve been getting from Manning.

“He’d never admit it, but Fox wants to win this one and prove to Elway that he’s still got it. Foxy rallies the troops to a narrow victory”.

Peyton Manning and DeMarcus Ware will not travel with the Broncos to Chicago for Sunday’s game, a decision that will end Manning’s franchise-record streak of 57 consecutive starts.

The main problem as of late has been Manning’s ability to read opposing defenses with the precision he has shown over the years. So, I must ask Mike, what has led to the team’s success?

So far 2015 has been a coming out of sorts for Jay Cutler, as he is finally living up to all of the hype he came with when the Broncos traded him to Chicago in April of 2009.

The Broncos are slumping, but they’re very much still in the Super Bowl conversation. And the expected conditions – temperatures in the 20s with winds of 10 to 15 miles per hour – should suit a kid from Kalispell, Mont. just fine, thank you.

“I just hate to see all these people saying all these negative things about him, ” said Marshall. I thank Mr. (Pat) Bowlen for the opportunity. These teams have met on 14 occasions and have split those games right down the middle.

Cutler loves to focus on one receiver, and he’s not afraid to throw four or five passes in a row to the same guy. Fortunately, he’s not the same quarterback we’ve seen in the past, and he’s been playing at an MVP level over the last month of the season.

Not as odd as it will feel for his old buddy Osweiler, who after 57 career games of watching from the sidelines will take the first offensive snap for the Broncos. He and former Bears linebacker Joey LaRocque run a growing business, RockSolid, that sells soft-shell helmets used for offseason, “non-contact” football workouts meant to make the game safer.

Osweiler and Caldwell hooked up two times last Sunday for 13 yards and a touchdown. Denver didn’t draft the Arizona State product in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft for laughs.

EVEN UP: The Bears have a chance to pull to. 500 mark with a win on Sunday. Which would be a sign of resilience for a team that started 0-3.

This is not to say he should play conservatively the rest of his career, the year, or even the game.

That this game is just a pick ’em in Vegas is a testament to that Bears buzz going around right now, but it also screams extenuating circumstances that are knocking that line out of whack.

It was the best of times and it was the worst of times in Denver this year.

Despite the speculation, head coach Gary Kubiak has said outright that Manning is the Broncos starter and that when he’s healthy he’ll have the starting job back.

The Bears have allowed just 16 sacks on the season, so sending constant pressure at a guy with an arm like Cutler’s may not be the best idea. The Broncos have allowed the fewest total yards, fewest passing yards and rank No. 6 in rush defense. The Chicago Bears took on the St. Louis Rams who had a very hard time stopping everyone but Alshon Jeffery. His 151 rating was a career high, and Zach Miller and Jeremy Langford turned short passes into touchdowns of 87 and 83 yards, respectively.