SAN DIEGO (AP) -- When the Denver Broncos and San Diego Chargers play Sunday, it might be a sight that makes sore eyes only sorer.

The beat-up Broncos, trying desperately to find their way in the post-John Elway era, considered starting Chris Miller at quarterback when sore-shouldered Brian Griese didn't practice on Wednesday.

By Thursday, Griese took enough snaps for coach Mike Shanahan to declare that he was ready to start Sunday. Still, Miller remained the healthiest of Denver's quarterbacks (Bubby Brister has a strained muscle in his left side), and he hasn't played in a regular season since 1995, before a series of concussions led to a three-year hiatus.

The Broncos (2-6) will be without San Diego native Terrell Davis, the reigning NFL MVP who is out for the season after tearing up his right knee, and tight end Shannon Sharpe, out with a broken collarbone.

You won't catch the Chargers (4-3) extending any sympathy. They've got plenty of problems themselves, ranging from their ugly offense to another blowup by Ryan Leaf, who's not even in playing shape. All that, and the Chargers have lost four straight to the Broncos, and seven of the last 10.

This will be the first game between the AFC West rivals since Elway retired.

"It's not going to be the same without Elway, Terrell Davis and Shannon Sharpe," said Chargers linebacker Junior Seau, who's thrilled that he doesn't have to face Elway anymore. "They have three hitters who are out and hopefully we can take advantage of that."

That might be the only way the Chargers can win, although they're still without Pro Bowl strong safety Rodney Harrison, which allows teams to run the ball away from Seau's weakside post.

On offense, the Chargers are desperately seeking the end zone. They haven't been there in the last 10 quarters, a span in which they've imploded under 14 turnovers by quarterbacks Jim Harbaugh and Erik Kramer.

San Diego managed to pull out a 13-10 win over Seattle despite Kramer's four second-half turnovers, but was annihilated by Green Bay and Kansas City by a combined 65-3.

It's almost as if Leaf were still on the field, although even his disastrous rookie season didn't have as ugly a stretch as Kramer did in committing nine turnovers in a span of six quarters.

Harbaugh and Kramer were supposed to stop the avalanche of turnovers that buried the Chargers last year. But they've already combined for 16 interceptions, one more than Leaf threw in 10 games last year.

Leaf won't even be on the sideline Sunday, having been suspended for four games without pay and fined an additional week's salary for a profane outburst at general manager Bobby Beathard. The distraction came just as the Chargers were trying to save what had been a promising start under Mike Riley.

"It's been two weeks of this and we don't want to continue this," Seau said. "It's a crash course right now. All the players in the locker room, if you think you've done enough, believe me, you haven't. We have to put more effort into it."

Especially at quarterback, where Harbaugh has won back the starting job.

After the loss at Kansas City, Harbaugh said the Chargers "looked like a bunch of goofs."

There's only one way to fix that.

"Get ahead. Get off to better starts, play a little faster," he said.

With this group, that's easier said than done. The Chargers have yet to score first this year.

"That's something we haven't done a great job at," said Harbaugh, noting that even Cincinnati took a 7-0 lead over the Chargers. "It's important to come out fast and come out ready."

That would be a 180-degree change from last week's game at Kansas City, when two turnovers by Kramer led to a 10-0 Chiefs lead even though they had zero net yards.

Although the Broncos have had an ugly season, their last two losses were nowhere near as bad as San Diego's. They lost by one point at New England and by three to Minnesota at home.

"Everybody's disappointed, rightfully so," Shanahan said. "How are you going to react? Are you going to feel sorry for yourself or are you going to keep on fighting? I think we've got a lot of character on our team. I expect us to come back and play extremely well in the second half of the season."

DENVER Season schedule and results

SAN DIEGO Season schedule and results

September 13 Miami L 21-38 September 19 @Kansas City L 10-26 September 26 @Tampa Bay L 10-13 October 3 NY Jets L 13-21 October 10 @Oakland W 16-13 October 17 Green Bay W 31-10 October 24 @New England L 23-24 October 31 Minnesota L 20-23 November 7 @San Diego 4:15pm ET November 14 @Seattle 8:20pm ET November 22 Oakland 9:00pm ET December 5 Kansas City 4:15pm ET December 13 @Jacksonville 9:00pm ET December 19 Seattle 4:15pm ET December 25 @Detroit 4:15pm ET January 2 San Diego 4:15pm ET

September 19 @Cincinnati W 34-7 September 26 Indianapolis L 19-27 October 3 Kansas City W 21-14 October 10 @Detroit W 20-10 October 17 Seattle W 13-10 October 24 Green Bay L 3-31 October 31 @Kansas City L 0-34 November 7 Denver 4:15pm ET November 14 @Oakland 4:05pm ET November 21 Chicago 4:15pm ET November 28 @Minnesota 1:00pm ET December 5 Cleveland 4:15pm ET December 12 @Seattle 4:05pm ET December 19 @Miami 1:00pm ET December 26 Oakland 4:05pm ET January 2 @Denver 4:15pm ET

Records source: STATS, Inc.

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