According to the Denver Post, it’ll take a miracle for Kyle Orton to start on Sunday, which means Chris Simms will get the nod against the Chargers today.

Simms has practiced all week. Orton has not because of a severely sprained left ankle. Orton has tried hard to get his ankle to heal. But as of Saturday afternoon, it had not recovered enough to play.

There is one sliver of hope for Orton — the plan was to give him one more try Sunday morning at Invesco Field. But unless a good night’s sleep brings dramatic improvement to the mangled ankle Orton suffered late in the second half against the Washington Redskins last Sunday, Simms will get his first NFL start since Sept. 24, 2006, when he suffered a near career-ending ruptured spleen while playing for Tampa Bay.

Simms looked completely unprepared when he had to sub in last week against the Redskins. Maybe now that he has a week of practice under his belt he’ll be better, but either way this isn’t what the Broncos want while getting ready to square off against the Chargers for sole possession of the AFC West.

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