Peyton Manning’s “Last Rodeo”: The interceptions. The injury. The return. The Super Bowl title. – The Denver Post

It was his 266th NFL regular-season game day, but everything was foreign to Peyton Manning. For the first time, he was his team’s backup quarterback. For the first time, he didn’t expect to play. And, for the first time, the man famous for his rigid routine threw himself a change-up.

Manning did not hole up at the Broncos’ team hotel. He did not drive to the stadium with a laser focus on the game plan. And he did not arrive four hours before kickoff against the San Diego Chargers in the Broncos’ regular-season finale on Jan. 3, 2016.

Manning went home to hang out with his twins, Marshall and Mosley, two-plus months shy of their fifth birthday, the plan being to arrive 2 1/2 hours before the game.

And then …

Manning, who had missed the previous six games with a plantar fasciitis injury, pulled out of his driveway and called Trey Teague, a college teammate at Tennessee.

“I had never done that before — that wasn’t (usually) the time to catch up with your college buddies,” Manning said. “But we were having a great talk. The next thing I know — and I’ve never had a great sense of direction — I’m seeing signs for Castle Rock and Colorado Springs. I’m going the wrong way.

“I tell Trey, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got to call you back.’”

Manning exited at Happy Canyon Road and circled back to get on Interstate 25 North, arriving two hours, five minutes before the game.

“Not that I didn’t study or prepare like the starter, but I just didn’t think I was going to play because the Chargers were bad, we were playing for home field and I thought it was probably going to be a blowout,” he said.

A turnover-laden first half meant it would not be a blowout. And, looking for a spark, coach Gary Kubiak replaced Brock Osweiler at halftime with Manning, who guided the Broncos to a 27-20 win to clinch home-field advantage in their Super Bowl-winning season.

That comeback was merely one chapter in Manning’s “Last Rodeo.”

With Manning set to become the 35th individual, 30th player and fourth quarterback to be inducted into the Broncos’ Ring of Fame on Sunday, Manning walked The Post through each chapter — the new playbook, the injuries, getting benched, rehabilitating in solitude and, of course, winning Super Bowl 50 in his final game

I: New offense

In his first three seasons in Denver, Manning ran a “hybrid” Broncos offense that had the same snap counts and formations he used in Indianapolis.

Coach John Fox departed after the January 2015 playoff loss to Indianapolis and was replaced by Kubiak, who introduced a new offense.

“It was certainly an adjustment,” Manning said. “It probably wouldn’t have been as hard for some quarterbacks for just the fact I had pretty much been in the same kind of offense for 17 years. All of a sudden, that last year, all that changed.”

Kubiak, who also served as play-caller, instructed offensive coordinator Rick Dennison, quarterbacks coach Greg Knapp (retained from Fox’s staff) and the quarterbacks to semi-meld his offense and Manning’s preferences.

“He had something he had been doing his whole career and been doing it better than anybody in the game, so as a coach, it would have been crazy as hell for me to say, ‘No, we’re going to do it this way,’” Kubiak said in a phone interview with The Post from his home in Texas. “I said, ‘Hey, Knapper, you and Peyton get in a room with Rico (Dennison), tell me all the things that you guys have been doing for a period of years and we’ll mix in some of the things I’ve been doing and we’ll try and find a happy medium.’”

There were differences … oh, were there differences.

“It was black vs. white,” Osweiler said with a laugh during a phone interview with The Post.

Manning’s chief adjustment was operating under center instead of the shotgun formation.

“Different snap count, different cadence, different formations — I was just thinking a lot because it was me unlearning my old offense that had been ingrained in me,” Manning said. “It was certainly a test of patience.”

During the offseason program, the Broncos’ quarterbacks organized meetings with their teammates. Manning and Osweiler relayed the play call to each other and then to the “huddle.”

“We were in the same boat trying to figure it out because there was a season approaching and we had to be ready to roll,” Osweiler said.

II: Winning, struggling, hurting … benched

The Broncos’ 2015 season started on a roll. The wins piled up — seven straight to begin the year — but so did Manning’s turnovers — at least one interception in each game and 11 total.

“We seemed to make the critical plays at the critical times,” Manning said. “Obviously, our defense kept us in everything as we were trying to figure it out.”

Manning passed for 340 yards in a 29-10 rout of Green Bay as the Broncos improved to 7-0. Internally, there was a feeling the offense had turned the corner.

“We were a team that had an identity and had one of the top defenses that’s ever played the game,” Kubiak said. “Offensively, we had a lot of things going on, guys playing in and out so we were trying to find ‘it’ there. But coming off the bye week, we played as good offensively as we had all year against Green Bay.

“That’s when the foot issue came up a week later.”

Manning injured his foot in the team’s first loss, at Indianapolis.

The Chiefs game was a train-wreck aside from Manning breaking Brett Favre’s record for all-time passing yards. Four interceptions in the first half. … Four interceptions in only 20 pass attempts. … Four interceptions that equaled a 0.0 passer rating. … And four interceptions that led to his benching at halftime.

“Watching that, I was sick to my stomach,” said Brandon Stokley, a former Manning teammate/long-time friend who is now a talk-show host on 104.3 FM in Denver. “I knew what he was going through and how much pain he was in. He’s a guy that is all about accountability and his body just wasn’t letting him do it.”

Said Osweiler: “It was hard to watch. At the same time, up to that point, Peyton had a decent amount of turnovers and we were still winning and we were having some struggles and having some adversity. But deep down, I just assumed he would tighten it up in the second half and make some plays to win the ballgame.”

Upon Kubiak mercifully removing Manning, Osweiler threw for 146 yards in a 29-13 loss.

“From then on, it was about, ‘Can this team be in position when Peyton makes it back from his foot situation?’” Kubiak said.

III: “Get this foot fixed”

Driving home after the Chiefs game, Manning wasn’t sure if he had played his last game.

“Didn’t know,” he said. “You’re disappointed about the game and you’re thinking about that first and then your injury second. You’re thinking about a lot of things, right? Is this going to be it for me?”

The next morning, Manning met with Kubiak and general manager John Elway. Kubiak made the call to shut Manning down “to get this foot fixed.”

Manning’s foot was placed in a splint for a trip to Charlotte and a visit with orthopedic expert Dr. Robert Anderson. Manning moved to a walking boot for two weeks.

“He was going through a tough, tough time and we weren’t sure whether he would make it back,” said Steve “Greek” Antonopoulos, then the Broncos’ head athletic trainer, in a phone interview.

Two weeks post-shutdown, Manning and Antonopoulos met with Kubiak.

“When he got out of the boot, Peyton said, ‘OK, here’s the plan: Give me some of the scout team guys. … I’ll take care of my business,’” Kubiak recalled.

Said Manning: “It was an adjustment. All of the other kids get to go recess and you have to stay inside and clean the board.”

Manning’s workouts were observed by Broncos assistant athletic trainer Dustin Little and his pass catchers included assistant equipment manager Mike Harrington, injured tight end Jeff Heuerman and practice squad receiver Jordan Taylor.

Now the San Francisco 49ers’ head athletic trainer, Little reviewed his notes from the sessions during a phone interview Thursday night.

“It went pretty well the first day — it definitely wasn’t like, ‘Ugh, this doesn’t look good,’” Little said. “You could tell he had some fine-tuning to do because of his footwork on the deeper drops and some of the rollouts. He was putting everything together.”

Little said the throwing script was more than 50 passes. Video was recorded from behind Manning to observe his footwork and also high above at the 50-yard line.

Did Little have a turning point in watching Manning?

“Hey, how’s it feeling?” he asked Manning one day.

“I’m done answering that question,” Manning responded.

At Manning’s retirement news conference, Kubiak relayed that after one session, No. 18 looked up at the camera and gave the No. 1 salute as if to say, “Let’s go.”

“It became evident pretty quickly that Peyton was going to find a way to get back,” Kubiak said.

But would Manning unseat Osweiler?

IV: “You ready?”

Osweiler won his first three starts to move the Broncos to 10-2.

“No quarterback likes to hear this, but I was basically trying to play within the system and play within the team we had,” he said. “I was really trying to keep the car between the lines.”

After the Broncos lost to the Raiders on Dec. 13, Kubiak said Manning would return to team practice. He made enough progress that Kubiak told him he would be Osweiler’s backup for the Jan. 3 Chargers game. Manning had started the first 265 regular season games of his career.

The first hiccup on that eventful day was Manning driving too far south. That was an easy fix — off ramp, on ramp, back on the highway.

The second was the Broncos’ first-half play against a Chargers team that entered with a 4-11 record.

The Broncos outgained the Chargers 279-93, but committed four turnovers — a fumble by receiver Emmanuel Sanders, an Osweiler fumble when he was hit from behind and two interceptions (a pass that went through the hands of receiver Jordan Norwood and a deflection at the line of scrimmage). The Broncos still led 7-6.

“Brock, bless his heart, there was nothing he could do about it, but it just wasn’t going well and we’ve all been there,” Manning said. “You just had this sense that it was going to be a dogfight.”

When Manning entered the locker room at halftime, he saw Elway talking with Kubiak.

“Normally, (Elway) wouldn’t be in there,” Manning said. “We went through the halftime adjustments and on the way out, Kubiak said, ‘You ready?’”

Laughing at the memory, Manning added: “I was driving the wrong way a few hours before, but I said, ‘Yeah, I think there are some things we can do.’ I went back in and I felt like a freshman again in college running out to the field. I didn’t know if I did anything special that day.”

Manning was 5-of-9 passing for 69 yards and the Broncos rushed for 145 yards.

“It was about leadership,” Kubiak said. “I said to (Elway) at halftime, ‘I think he’s ready go. I know he’ll be ready to go in two weeks (in the playoffs), but this would be great to get him some time.’ Bottom line, the players had their leader back on the field and the organization had their leader back on the field.”

On the sideline, Little said he “vividly” remembers the crowd reaction when Manning took the field.

“It wasn’t like somebody scored a touchdown, but it was optimistic,” Little said. “I have never heard another sound like that.”

As Manning directed the offense, Osweiler watched.

Asked if he felt a figurative rug had been pulled out from under him, Osweiler said: “Without a doubt. I’m not naïve to it. We had some struggles. We had some turnovers. We left a ton out there (in the first half). I looked at is as, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. Timeout. I step in and started playing and won some big games and got some mojo rolling and now we’re playing to be the No. 1 seed and because we struggled for a half (I get benched)?’ It really hurt, to be honest, and it was a tough pill to swallow. That was probably the hardest half of football I’ve ever endured and I wasn’t even on the field.”

V: “Last rodeo”

Back as the Broncos’ starting quarterback, Manning was talking with the media in front of his locker the week of the Divisional Round playoff game against Pittsburgh. Denver Post sports columnist Mark Kiszla asked Manning, “Have you taken time to consider this could well be your last rodeo?”

Following the interview session, Manning pulled Kiszla aside to tell him he liked the phrase, “last rodeo.”

Manning played turnover-free against the Steelers (21 of 37 for 222 yards) and threw two first-half touchdowns in the AFC title game win over New England. During a brief exchange at midfield, Manning told Patriots coach Bill Belichick, “Hey, listen, this might be my last rodeo.”

In the Super Bowl against Carolina, Manning threw for 141 yards (second-fewest of his playoff career) and was sacked five times (tied for most), but the Broncos never trailed in a 24-10 win, allowing Manning to join the likes of Elway, Jerome Bettis, Michael Strahan and Ray Lewis as eventual Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees to make a Super Bowl win their final game.

“I do feel like we played complementary football and in the Super Bowl, it certainly wasn’t pretty,” Manning said. “Get our defense the lead and let them do their thing. It ended up being good enough to win another championship.”

Manning’s four-year Broncos career is tied with quarterbacks Frank Tripucka (1960-63) and Charley Johnson (1972-75) for the shortest of any Ring of Fame inductee. But his impact on the organization and region continues to be felt.

“When Indy released him, there were a few different places he could go and he took a leap of faith and came here and who could have imagined the run the Broncos would go on in his four years here?” Stokley said. “I think it means so much to him that the Broncos gave him the opportunity. How it all turned out, you couldn’t have written the script any better.”

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