Peyton Manning Rumors: You've Gotta Feel for Tim Tebow

It doesn't matter what side of the fence you're on.

Okay, it probably does, but the love/hate relationship with Tim Tebow never changed the fact that he sparked the 2011 Broncos in a way that maybe only he could. For an organization that's been looking for a franchise face since the pain-staking days of Brian Griese (The start of the post-Elway era), it looked like we finally had someone as recognizable on and off the field as John himself.

As if taking over a 1-4 team that was downtrodden wasn't enough, Tebow finished the season going 7-4, memorably defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers on the first play of overtime.

Tebow's efforts and work ethic led to John Elway saying that Tim Tebow would be the 2012 starting QB. It seemed that the Broncos were set to pick up a few complementing pieces in the draft to help Tebow. An entire offseason to work on his mechanics with the legend himself seemed promising too. 2012 looked to be a season where we could determine if Tebow would ever develop into the more traditional QB that most of the league doubts he could ever be.

Enter: Peyton Manning.

It's just one of those things that you can't say no to. A sure-fire future Hall of Famer gets cut because the Colts are unsure if he'll be able to fully recover from his neck surgeries. They would rather go forward with cleaning house and presumably drafting Andrew Luck, hoping he can regenerate a franchise that was between eight-to-ten wins worse without the QB that held them in the spotlight for the past 14 seasons.

As the sweepstakes began, the Broncos were a long-shot. It didn't seem like they would honestly be able to land him. Who would've thought that within days of being released that the Broncos would show up on his reportedly "top three teams" that he'd want to play for.

According to Vic Lombardi of CBS4 (and his twitter handle @VicLombardi), the Broncos are 95 percent confident that Manning will sign with Denver.

As soon as Monday night we could know for sure where Manning wants to play.

But what if you're Tim Tebow?

You just rejuvenated the franchise. Fans protested to get you onto the field. More than half of America doubted you and you proved them wrong.

The naysayers will clamor on and on, but the team changed once you took the reigns.

Now you would probably welcome Peyton Manning, you would revel in the opportunity to back up and learn from one of the best of all time. However, it has become known that if the Broncos sign Manning, that they would trade you.

After everything you've done for the Mile High City, they're going to ship you out.

Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. How do you prove you're more worthy than Peyton Manning?

It's tough. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better quarterback than Peyton Manning.

So how do you argue against the decision the Broncos appear ready to make?

You can't.

Even with the uncertainty that Manning will never be the QB that made the Colts one of the winningest franchises of the past decade, it's still pretty certain that he can compete at a high level. Tebow's future is still uncertain.

How does he prove last season wasn't just a fluke?

Whether you love him or hate him, you've gotta feel for Tim Tebow.