Tim Tebow: Why Broncos QB's Hype Is Passing Fad

America has lost its mind. 

On Saturday, Drew Brees tap-danced around a pass rush that was foaming at the mouth to deliver a performance that ended in 466 yards passing and three touchdowns.

On Sunday, we had a epic collapse by last year’s success story, Matt Ryan. The Ice ran cold, but not in any way that would be beneficial to the Atlanta Falcons. Both those stories were intriguing, but not interesting.

Neither Brees nor Ryan could wrestle away the interest of the nation from one hell of a nice guy named Tim Tebow.

This year, we saw an NFL passing record shattered, an MVP race that is by all accounts the closest in history, a rookie in Cam Newton that became a superstar over night, Peyton Manning reduced to a spectator, a Dream Team nightmare and a San Francisco 49ers team surge to the top.

Yet, it remains very much all about Tebow. This is not to say that Tebow is not a great guy, because he is. One of the oddest pieces of this Tebow story is that a good man is proving to be the most polarizing figure in sports right now. 

He didn’t kill any dogs or make it rain in any strip club. He merely genuflects and on occasion completes a few passes a game. For that, he has tip-toed towards idolatry that his religion would otherwise forbid. 

This is not to slam Tebow, because that man is a gem and the athlete is a beast. This is merely to question that hype that surrounds him. And that is what we will do here. 

Talent

Tebow is big, strong and built like Peyton Hillis. He can get up the field in a hurry, but that has never been the problem.

America is not in love with Tebow's ability to rack up 400-yard games every single week. They have that show available to them in the Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees quarterbacks of the world. 

Tickets are not purchased to see what Tebow can do with precise passes, rather how he pulls yet another win out of his rear end. 

White

It has to be because he is a white boy, right?

I sat down a few days ago and pondered whether this Tebow thing was due to the color of his skin. The fact is that he is the historically right color to get national adulation.

This was before the Cincinnati Bengals were dismissed rather easily by the Houston Texans in their Wild Card Game.

The key for me was that Andy Dalton was getting little to no aplomb. The rookie took over a Bengals team that was basically left at the alter by Carson Palmer. The team gave the keys of the Lamborghini to a 16-year-old.

Dalton, a white kid himself, took the Bengals to the playoffs like Tebow. He had better numbers than Tebow and had just as questionable offensive weapons as the Mile High Messiah.

Yet there was no Dalton hype. Flocks of reporters didn’t come see the Great White Hope in Cincinnati.

The Tebow hype, while ridiculous, is color blind.

Religion

Forget the notion of separation of church and sport. Jesus Christ has never figured into the NFL more than he has with the advent of Tebow and the notion that he is ordained from above. 

People are not that insane to really believe that God cares about the Denver Broncos over any other team. We make fun of the opposition not believing, but really, only the truly crazy would believe that a divine entity would care about who covers on Sunday. 

The majority use the religion angle to drum up support for Tebow, because this proves he is a nice guy, as if agnostics are running down the street pushing old people to the ground. 

So, this can't be it either.  

Winner

Winning—that is the commodity that all sports fans deal in. If you aren't winning, you are losing. There is a reason the Lakers and Yankees have such a splendid shelf life on the national landscape—they win. 

Tebow continues to win and that keeps him on top of the heap of things we care about. 

Conclusion

Tebow continues to defy odds. He is an amazing story that encapsulates what drives us all, and that's with hard work, we can accomplish anything. 

That is far too sappy to be true. The fact is, Tebow is polarizing, and that is all that matters. He offers something great to argue about. 

If you ask someone at the market what they think of Tebow, you won't get a flippant answer. Their face will either light up or become red with frustration. 

The point is Tebow is an NFL quarterback that should be winning. That is kind of what he is paid to do. Yet, we want to celebrate every completion with a parade, and that is ridiculous.

All things overhyped die a quick death. Soon those that would want to argue the finer points of Tebow would rather nap, and that is where this mania will end. There will be another more scintillating argument to be made about some other athlete.

We thank Tebow for a great debate, but it can't last. Hysteria is only good for a few short moments. Anything more, and you are officially mad.

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