Broncos will be without coach Gary Kubiak for Thursday night's game

The Denver Broncos aren’t going to wait and see if Gary Kubiak feels healthy enough to coach the team on Thursday night. They are giving him the week off.

Kubiak was hospitalized after Sunday’s game with what the team described as a “complex migraine condition that caused extreme fatigue and body weakness.” Kubiak was released from the hospital on Monday afternoon, but the team already has decided he won’t coach Thursday’s game at the San Diego Chargers.

Special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis will be the interim head coach, the team announced, which is a bit of a surprise. But it makes sense. That allows defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, who has plenty of head-coaching experience and seemed to be the likely candidate to fill in for Kubiak, to concentrate on calling the defense. The same goes for offensive coordinator Rick Dennison.

Kubiak is expected to return next Monday, GM John Elway said.

It’s quite an opportunity for DeCamillis, who was born and raised in Arvada, Colo. and has been a coach since 1989 without ever being a head coach. DeCamillis has been a special teams coach nearly his entire career, and is one of the NFL’s best. DeCamillis is also the son-in-law of former Broncos and Falcons coach Dan Reeves. DeCamillis has coached special teams for six different franchises, but he has never gotten a shot to be a head coach. He will be an NFL head coach for one game at least.

“We’ve got a great staff. Kubes set a template for us,” DeCamillis said, according to the Broncos’ Twitter feed. “He’s not a micro-manager. We don’t see a big change this week.”

It will be a strange week for the team, which is coming off a loss to the Atlanta Falcons. It’s always tough to travel to play on Thursday night, and prepare on a short week. Those challenges become harder with the head coach ruled out.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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