Even after the loss to the New England Patriots, much of the sports world is talking about one man, Tim Tebow. Tebow has been a football legend of sorts amongst the fans and the media for quite some time and even after much criticism and many doubts, he is currently starting for the Denver Broncos at QB. Before taking over as the starter the Kyle Orton led Broncos struggled to a dismal 1-4 record, prompting many fans to call for Tim Tebow to be named starter. During the BYE week, Head Coach John Fox installed him as the starter and since then the Broncos have gone 7-2 and now lead the AFC West with an 8-6 record. With games remaining against the struggling Bills and the now Kyle Orton led Chiefs (Denver released him back in November) the Broncos are in great position to lock up their first playoff berth and division win since 2005 when they made it to the AFC Championship game, but lost to the eventual Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers.
For Broncos (and Tebow) fans, there is both good news and bad news here. The good news is, the Denver Broncos WILL win the division, but the bad news is they will not win a single game in the playoffs. Right now, looking at the AFC Playoff picture the Denver Broncos would have to play last year’s AFC Champions, the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers are an old school team with a nasty defense and a strong smash mouth running game. Add in Ben Roethlisberger, a big and somewhat mobile QB with a big arm, and a legitimate deep threat in Mike Wallace and Steelers have one of the more complete teams in all of the NFL. With the threats the Steelers have at running back, Rashard Mendenhall and Mewelde Moore, Big Ben can utilize a deadly play action fake and throw the deep ball to Mike Wallace. On defense, the Steelers have some hard-hitting player such as James Harrison and last year’s Defensive Player of the Year, Troy Polamalu.
The Steelers have a defense that should have no problem stopping Tebow and his running backs Willis McGahee and Lance Ball from getting their yards running. They also have an offense that should be able to take advantage of the Denver Bronco defense. When a team is playing from behind, they tend to be more willing to abandon the run and if the Broncos go down a couple Touchdowns they too will have to abandon it. To say throwing is not Tebow’s strong suit would be a huge understatement, while his Touchdown to Interception ratio is a good one; he clearly struggles passing and is a much better runner. Many of Tebow’s passes are thrown poorly and his receivers have to bail him out. Other times Tebow at least has the advantage of the threat of him running, causing defensive players to key in on him rather than the receivers they should be covering, thus allowing Tebow to throw to some open players. If the Broncos are down multiple scores chances are the Steelers defense will not key in on Tebow, at least as much, and they will actually cover their guys the right way. The Steelers have a veteran defense, one that plays smart; if Tebow is forced to pass against them, they will get multiple INTs.
While there is not a guarantee that Denver will end up playing the Steelers the other potential opponents are not pushovers either. Chances are the other team the Broncos could end up playing would be the Houston Texans or the Baltimore Ravens. Again two teams with great defenses, and offensive threats. The Texans have arguably the best running back duo in the NFL and when healthy a top five WR. The Ravens have a top 5-10 running back in Ray Rice, a decent receiver core and a young QB in Joe Flacco with a ton of potential. Flacco has shown some serious flashes as a QB in the league, but of course, he has been inconsistent this season. The Broncos defense could pick on Flacco no problem if he was in the situation Tebow will be in, but the Ravens should rely mainly on the run game and use it to set up the pass. Tebow still will have trouble running on the Ravens or Texans, with guys like Ray Lewis or Brian Cushing out there, these defenses become near unstoppable against the weaker offenses.
I will say even though I am positive Tebow cannot and will not win the first playoff game, no matter what team he plays, he does have one thing going for him. This one thing is what I will call the “Tebow Factor”. The “Tebow Factor” is basically that even though at times Tim Tebow looks lost out there at QB or his team appear to be too far behind with little time remaining Tebow and Broncos still find ways to win, many times. Tim Tebow has made it a habit of proving many of his doubters wrong so far, and while many times these improbable wins really are because of the Bronco defense and their kicker Matt Prater, at the very least Tebow helps to give them the spark needed to win. Tim Tebow is not a good enough player, and Broncos as a whole are not a good enough team to beat the Steelers, Texans or Ravens, should they play one of them in the wild card round of the playoffs, but let’s be honest here, if Tebow did win, would we really be surprised?