The Broncos benched Russell Wilson.

Head coach Sean Payton confirmed Wednesday that Jarrett Stidham is in line to start Sunday against the Chargers, one week after Denver’s playoff odds decreased dramatically with a loss to the New England Patriots.

The move has short- and long-term ramifications for a franchise that has tried and failed to find a solution at quarterback since Peyton Manning retired following the 2015 season.

The immediate implication is clear: Payton is taking one of the league’s highest profile quarterbacks off the field in a move he said was his decision.

The longer-term consequence — namely, whether this is the end for Wilson in Denver — will play out over the coming weeks and months even if Wednesday’s seismic happenings could easily be interpreted as writing on the wall.

Payton told reporters that the move is not indicative of Wilson’s future with the franchise beyond this season — he’s under contract through 2028 and the five-year extension he signed last year doesn’t even begin until 2024 — though it is sure to have repercussions in the relationship between Wilson, Payton and Denver’s front office.

“I understand all the speculation and everything that surrounds a move like this,” Payton said. “I can tell you, we’re desperately trying to win. Sure, in our game there are economics and all those other things, but the No. 1 push behind all of this — and it’s a decision I’m making — is to get a spark offensively. …

“If I didn’t feel like (Stidham) gave us a chance to win, we wouldn’t be making this move.”

Though Payton said the move is about trying to jumpstart the Broncos’ flagging offense, it also gives Denver a level of protection regarding a contract trigger that could complicate their decision-making over Wilson’s future in Denver.

Wilson’s contract says if he is on Denver’s roster on March 17, his $37 million in salary for the 2025 season becomes guaranteed. NFL teams cannot cut injured players, so if Wilson were to play the final two weeks of the season and sustain an injury that prevented him from passing a physical in the spring, the Broncos would be locked in to two more years of salary.

The Broncos could have either benched him or pushed for the guarantee date to be moved back earlier in the season had Denver not won five straight games after a 1-5 start to surge back into playoff contention. Multiple sources told The Post that around the middle of the season, which coincides with Denver’s bye week at 3-5, the team and Wilson’s side had conversations about his contract and the option guarantee date. Nothing changed at that time and then the Broncos really got hot. While that mid-season run changed the complexion of the 2023 season itself, however, it did not change the underlying reality of Wilson’s contract.

Payton, for his part, used the timing of the move to push back on the notion the move was financially motivated.

“Then why not last week or two weeks ago or three weeks ago or four weeks ago?” said Payton, glossing over the fact that Denver’s playoff odds fell to less than 10% with the loss to the Patriots.

Payton insisted, too, that Wilson would be the No. 2 quarterback Sunday against the Chargers. The Broncos have Ben DiNucci on the practice squad and would have to promote him to the 53-man roster because he’s been elevated three times.

“Russ will be the No. 2,” Payton said. “My guess is, just knowing our roster on game day, we’d have two ready to go. We wouldn’t have three on the field.”

That would make little sense given the financial stakes, which the Broncos could benefit from even if the move was made for primarily football-related reasons. Wilson sustaining an injury that put the $37 million guarantee for 2025 in the balance would look entirely unnecessary if it came in a game he didn’t start with little in the way of playoff hope remaining.

“I spent time with Russ this morning and he’s been a pro,” Payton said. “Obviously disappointed, but all the work that goes into doing what he does or doing what they do at that position, it’s difficult. It’s difficult and challenging and there’s part of you, certainly myself as a head coach, that says, ‘Man, I needed to be better.’”

Wilson practiced Wednesday but did not speak with reporters in the Broncos’ locker room afterward.

He is in his second season with Denver, but a five-year, $245 million contract extension ($161 million guaranteed) he signed last year begins in 2024. His $39 million in salary for the first year of that deal is already guaranteed and the Broncos owe him that cash even if they were to cut him after this season.

Cutting Wilson after the season would be painful financially in other ways, too, as he would leave $85 million in “dead cap” — money accelerated onto the Broncos’ salary cap either next year or, more likely, spread over the next two seasons. To spread it over two seasons, Denver would designate Wilson as a “post-June 1” release.

The simplest way that money would split is Wilson would count $35.4 million against the Broncos’ cap in 2024 — his current projected cap number — and then $49.6 million in 2025. There are ways Denver can move that money around and perhaps front-load more of it, though the team doesn’t currently have much cap space remaining in 2023.

Unless Wilson agrees to re-work his contract, there’s no way around paying the $85 million over either one year or two on the salary cap. Denver could look to trade Wilson, too. The NFL quarterback market operates in strange ways, but Wilson is not widely viewed as a tradable commodity given his current contract parameters.

“With regards to the future, we haven’t had a sit-down,” Payton said. “I’m sure we will. (CEO Greg Penner, general manager George Paton) and I, we speak frequently. But this is about now. And this is about trying to get our eighth win and we’ll go from there.”

Essentially, the choice facing the Broncos all along has been this: Is 2023 Wilson’s final year in Denver or are they willing to commit to him for two more?

When asked directly if he thought he could win at a high level with Wilson in the future, Payton said, “Yeah, absolutely. His pedigree, his competitiveness, all those things. But look, we need a spark. We need something right now. We’ll handle the long term when we get there, but we’re not there. We’re trying to figure out a way to get this eighth win and then, if we do that, we’ve got another important game next weekend.

“That’s where we’re at right now.”

Where the Broncos offense has been overall recently is struggling, from Wilson to the rest of the group.

Over a five-game winning streak earlier in the year, Wilson turned the ball over just one time, completed 71.6% of his passes, threw eight touchdowns and no picks, and ran for 116 yards (3.7 per carry) while playing to a quarterback rating of 109.5.

In the past four games, he’s turned the ball over five times, completed 61.7% of his passes, thrown six touchdowns and four interceptions, run for 75 yards (2.8 per carry) and two touchdowns, and played to an 84.5 quarterback rating.

Payton on Tuesday said his offense needed to be better and Wednesday reiterated that sentiment.

He said, essentially, that changing the quarterback was one thing in his control.

“I can’t replace the entire offensive line, I can’t bring in five new receivers and if it continues over a period of time, there will be another (coach) standing here talking to you, as well,” Payton said. “These are difficult decisions. Obviously, there’s more attention when it’s the quarterback who’s under contract. … I can just assure you of one thing. I’ve said this to Greg and George a number of times: I’m just interested in winning.”

That task now falls to Stidham, the 27-year-old who got a two-year, $10 million contract from the Broncos this offseason that came with $5 million guaranteed.

Who will it fall to in 2024? That remains to be seen, but the Broncos’ actions Wednesday strongly suggest it will be somebody other than Wilson.

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