NFL Playoff Picks: Tim Tebow's Magic Season Will Come to an End vs. Steelers

Tim Tebow's 2011 season has been up and down and certainly earned plenty of attention, but it's going to come to a crashing halt on Sunday afternoon. While they are facing the 12-4 defending champion, the Broncos are going to lose because their confidence is gone. 

Tebow has never been a classically good quarterback. He's not a strong pocket passer. Nobody has really ever claimed that he was. But what Tebow had going for him was a confidence. No matter how poorly he'd played before the final minutes, he believed that the team was going to win the game. 

And more often than not, he was right. The Broncos had a nice six-game winning streak early in the season where it seemed every game followed that plan. 

But now, they're nothing more than an 8-8 team on a three-game losing streak. Two of those losses were blowouts, and the third was a pathetic three-point performance at home. There's nothing there that inspires any confidence.

There was a time not that long ago where I would have picked the Broncos here. The game is in Denver, Pittsburgh is a MASH unit, and they were playing with a confidence that wouldn't allow them to lose games. Now, I don't believe that anyone on the Broncos truly believes that they will win on Sunday. 

If the team doesn't believe they'll win, they won't. It's that simple. 

Defensively, they'll do enough to keep the game close. Denver's defense is playing good football, and keeping games competitive.

But ultimately, this team will need to find ways to score points if they're going to win in the playoffs. Ben Roethlisberger may be beaten up, but he will find ways to put some points on the board. The way that Denver is playing, they won't need many. 

I'm not saying that the Broncos should give up on Tebow. No, he's done enough this year to hold the starting position going into next season. 

But to win in the playoffs, a team needs to believe that they can get the critical points. Against the Steelers, that's not going to happen for the Broncos. They don't have any confidence, and the defense they're going against is too good. 

This won't be a particularly pretty game to watch, but the Steelers will emerge victorious.

Prediction: Steelers 17, Broncos 6

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