NFL Playoffs 2012: Denver Broncos Must Let Tim Tebow Play out Wild Card Game

Whether the media is making too much of the potential "Tim Tebow benching" remains to be seen, but the Denver Broncos simply don't understand what they have at quarterback.

From the very beginning of this season the Broncos have gotten it wrong.

When Kyle Orton's trade value was at its highest, they failed to pull the trigger. Rather than trade him and give the fans Tebow from Day 1, they opened the year with Orton as the starter and promptly went 1-4.

They then traded away the team's top receiver, Brandon Lloyd, and finally decided to give Tebow a shot to start.

The second-year signal caller responded with 7-1 run to put the Broncos back into the playoff picture, and they ultimately won the AFC West with an 8-8 record despite losing their last three games.

Although this is Broncos' first postseason appearance since 2005, Tebow is still not considered the organization's future.

In fact, there is talk of coach John Fox possibly benching Tebow against the Steelers in favor of Brady Quinn should No. 15 struggle in today's wild card matchup.

How or why that makes any sense to executive vice president of football operations John Elway or coach Fox is beyond me.

The Broncos organization won't commit to Tebow for obvious reasons, but what they fail to see, and have failed to see, is that this season should have been and needs to be all about Tebow.

They drafted the former Heisman Trophy winner in the first round and they need to make a decision on whether or not he is the future of this franchise.

The only way to do that is by playing him.

To even consider benching him now just because they're in the playoffs is beyond foolish.

Denver is at a crossroads with a new decision maker and coach at the helm, in order to find out if they have the right quarterback or not they have to actually let him play.

The Broncos haven't done many things right when it comes to the handling of Tebow. Now would be a great time to start doing it right.