Denver Broncos: Why Letting Tim Tebow Loose Is the Key to Beating the Steelers

Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos will face off against the league's top-ranked defense when they meet the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC playoffs' Wild Card Round on Sunday afternoon.

Tim Tebow hasn't fared all that well in his last three games—even against the league's 31st-ranked defense (Patriots) and 26th-ranked defense (Bills).  In those two games combined, Tebow threw for a below-average 379 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions with a terrible 49.4 percent completion percentage.

In his last game against the Kansas City Chiefs and the league's 11th-ranked defense, Tebow threw for 60 yards and one interception with an atrocious 27.3 percent completion percentage. That kind of production leads to the belief that Tebow might have serious trouble even completing a single pass against the Steelers' top-ranked defense.

While Tebow will undoubtedly have trouble with the Steelers' defense, he will be able to produce at a more efficient level because the Broncos figured out what they were doing wrong thanks to John Elway.  Luckily for Tebow, Elway, VP of football operations, in an interview with the Washington Post, spoke his mind at just the right time as he called out Tebow's cautious play.

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That's human nature, especially when you're young, to become more cautious.  He had a tough week before [the Chiefs regular-season finale] against Buffalo.  The key thing is to go out, put everything behind him, go through his progressions and pull the trigger.  

When you get into these playoff situations, he's a good enough athlete, you know what, to pull the trigger.  He's obviously upset with last week.  He's already got an edge to him, so he's ready to go. I like seeing the edge.  Oh, yeah.  I actually love it.  I have full confidence he'll bounce back and have a good week.

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Tebow looked like a different player in his final three games.  He looked like he was questioning everything that he did, whether it was running for a first down or attempting a downfield bomb to Eric Decker or Demaryius Thomas.  

Tebow wasn't playing overly cautious because he's a terrible football player.  Instead, he was doing so because the Denver Broncos' coaching staff was being cautious in terms of letting Tebow have control of the game.

Why do you think Tebow plays best in the fourth quarter and overtime and when coming from behind?   He plays his best football during those times because the pressure is on him, and the coaches stop being cautious about play-calling and let the game come to him.

In the fourth quarter and overtime, Tebow has his best completion percentage marks of 53.8 and 57.1 percent, respectively.  Tebow isn't the kind of player who just lets the game come to him.  He needs to have the freedom to create opportunities for himself and his teammates—much like he was able to do in Florida—and that is what he does in the fourth quarter and overtime.

The Broncos' coaching staff needs to stop limiting Tebow by placing him in unbelievably predictable passing and running situations.  The Broncos run on first and second down and throw on third more than any other team in the NFL, and that predictability is the main thing that is holding Tebow back.  

The more predictable the Broncos' offense gets, the less explosive and exciting Tebow gets, and that is the Broncos' fault more than Tebow's.

The Denver Broncos need to let Tebow go; they need to let him play the game like he did in Florida, with freedom, energy and enthusiasm.  Sure, letting Tebow go runs the risk of him playing too aggressively and making decisions he shouldn't, but I'd take an overly-aggressive Tebow over a conservative (insert conservative religious joke here) any day.

Tebow is a proven leader, and leaders are only capable of leading when they have the freedom to do so.  That is something the Broncos haven't been doing with Tebow as of late.

Denver, do yourself a favor and let Tim Tebow loose.  If you do that, his innate leadership and ability to motivate will carry you to an AFC wild-card win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.