Gary Kubiak Comments on Allowing Peyton Manning to Play vs. Chiefs

Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning had one of the worst days of his career Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs, and head coach Gary Kubiak took the blame.

After the signal-caller completed just five of 20 passes for 35 yards with four interceptions in a 29-13 loss to the Chiefs, Kubiak removed Manning from the game in the third quarter. After the loss, the head coach said his starting quarterback should have never been in the game, per Jeff Legwold of ESPN.com:

"

To be honest with you, I was protecting him. I was worried about him. Let me just say this: Obviously, I'm very disappointed in the football game ... I'm disappointed in myself, this is on me. I probably should have made a decision not to play him in the game. I needed to make probably that tough decision there.

"

It would have been an unprecedented move, considering Manning has played in every game in his career, except when he sat out for the entire 2011 season after suffering a neck injury.

Legwold noted that Manning had been on the injury report two weeks earlier with a sore shoulder. On Saturday, he also received treatment for foot and rib injuries.

Manning, who had been 7-0 against the Chiefs since coming to Denver in 2012, started the day off by eclipsing Brett Favre for the most career passing yards in NFL history with a four-yard completion to Ronnie Hillman in the first quarter.

NFL.com shared video footage of the play that helped Manning surpass Favre's mark of 71,838 yards:

After that, it was all downhill. The Chiefs pressured Manning all night, and by the time Kubiak pulled him, Manning had completed just one more pass to his teammates than he had thrown to the Chiefs.

It could seem as though the head coach is taking the blame for a terrible performance by his future Hall of Fame quarterback, but the 39-year-old Manning has become ineffective in his 18th season. He has nine touchdowns and 17 interceptions this year.

Manning likely said he was fine to play, and Kubiak gave in to the future Hall of Famer even though he had reservations about starting him in the first place.

However, ESPN's Ed Werder does think Kubiak is taking the hit for Manning's poor performance:

Backup Brock Osweiler threw for 146 yards and a touchdown with one interception in place of Manning, but Kubiak said if his starter is healthy, he'll be under center against the Chicago Bears in Week 11, per ESPN.com: "Peyton's our quarterback. If he's healthy and ready to go, Peyton's our quarterback."

He may not be the Peyton of old, but as long as Manning is healthy, he's earned the right to be the starter. 

The problem for the Broncos is that he doesn't appear to be healthy.