Tim Tebow: That's Him in the Spotlight, Losing His Religion

Summarizing Tim Tebow’s season-and-a-half in the National Football League seems almost improper. One can’t help but leave out something important. His unusual draft selection. His uneasy insertion into the starting lineup, in both this season and last. His fans. The billboard. That overtime win against the Dolphins. And that awful game after against the Lions.

It was immediately after that Dolphins game where TV cameras spotted Tebow knelt in prayer. The former Florida quarterback is hardly the first guy to thank the Lord for a win, but he may be the most notable, as no other Christian football player ever co-starred in a Super Bowl commercial with his mother. Many have insinuated that what the content of that prayer might have been, as if God had kicked the game-winning field goal instead of Denver’s Matt Prater. We can get to that later.

That image of Tebow kneeling—and the ensuing barrage of online images parodying it—has become the internet’s latest meme, and like all those it proceeded, it became annoying and dull in a matter of days. And then Lions defender Stephen Tullouch “Tebowed” in a game—immediately after sacking Tebow—and the debate was on.

Was Tulloch mocking Tebow’s Christian faith? Was he simply saluting the meme? Why are the Lions so good this year, anyway? Can Stephen A. Smith breathe in through his nose while screaming? Did I leave the iron on?

The hypotheticals have been trotted out, as if we could build a Tebow timeline facsimile, concluding with Tulloch dropping to both knees on the 50-yard-line while facing Mecca. I’m astonished by what’s considered offensive anymore and what isn’t. I certainly don’t try to tell the world what I think would be offensive to other people. I can only speak with certainty on what’s offensive to me.

I didn’t see the play live. Only on Monday did I see the news clip of Tulloch’s homage. And I laughed. It wasn’t until I saw someone from my church group “Tebowing” that I even considered that the practice had the potential to be offensive.

This would be an easier discussion to parse if the public backlash against Tebow was rooted squarely in his faith, but it isn’t. The Tebow saga concerns not only the young man in question, but also the manner in which his gospel is delivered to the public by a fawning media. There arguably was never been a more popular backup quarterback in the history of pro football, and the continued discussion of a player largely irrelevant to the success of his team has surely turned off more than a few followers of his team and the league in general.

Let’s address that. First of all, it’s not Tebow’s fault that his team sucks. You could stick anyone short of Aaron Rodgers on that team and the Broncos would still be terrible. Secondly, there are no other stars on that team. Not even Champ Bailey and Knowshon Moreno combined have the wattage of Tebow. There’s nothing else about that organization that lends itself to discussion. John Fox is in his first year as head coach, so he won’t be getting fired anytime soon.  

I’ve said before that my favorite thing about Tebow is his ability to transcend the sabremetric and analytical discussion that all but kills the mythology of today’s athletes. He defies those metrics, or maybe his supports just ignore them, but they don’t matter. While Tebow won’t be curating your fantasy football team anytime soon, he is still very much a fantasy quarterback.

None of this changes the fact that he, right now, is a terrible NFL quarterback. And surely, having a bad offensive line doesn’t help. Having Eric Decker as your best receiver doesn’t help. Having two different pro offensive systems in two years doesn’t help. But he’s bad. As bad as the rest of the Broncos, you might say. The only way to keep the Broncos relevant is to keep Tebow under center, and that’s how things will stay in Denver until the team starts winning, or Tebow leaves.

Tebow isn’t a target simply because of his faith, though I’m sure that plays into it. I think it’s as simple as Christianity getting caught in the crossfire. The Christians that I’ve met and befriended don’t ask God for wins or more money or a bigger house. We ask for calmed nerves, for strength, for direction, and for the safety of our loved ones. And if our teammate boots a 52-yarder for the win, that’s not bad, either.

Christians aren’t perfect, and neither is Tebow. And in the event that he does get caught with a gay porn star or a box full of Vicodin or an underage girl, it wouldn’t mean that he’s a bad Christian. It would mean that he’s human, fallible. The fact that some people want to see those things happen to Tim is not something I fully understand.

Maybe Tebowing.com will feature a post that can explain that to me.