Denver Broncos: Why Kyle Orton Should Get the Reins Over Tim Tebow

The 1998 Denver Broncos were everything a fan wants in a football team. 

They had a record-breaking running back who had swagger yet appeared to be humble in Terrell Davis. They had an offensive line filled with journeymen and family men who got so nervous before games that they only found consolation in the waste basket. 

They had a receiving corps that was one of the more effective in the National Football League yet was still made up of personalities that were polar opposites. They had a defense that struggled sometimes yet always found a way to come up with the big turnover when the offense needed the ball back. 

They had Mike Shanahan before he lost his sanity.  The Denver Broncos also had one of the most marketable and effective quarterbacks in NFL history in John Elway.

Ever since the 1998 season though, the Broncos have never been the same fan-friendly and winning team. 

They have never had a quarterback that had the same pizazz and effectiveness as John Elway.  They have never had a running back that gave them the consistency that Terrell Davis gave them for those many seasons.  

They have never had the same chemistry on the offensive line that the 1998 team had. They have had a defense that seems as allergic to creating turnovers as an anorexic girl.  

They have never had consistency at the head coaching position as even the rest of Mike Shanahan's tenure proved to be the definition of inconsistency and turmoil.

The Broncos needed to win the Broncos fans back and they thought they could do this by starting over and drafting a team that could eventually turn into a replication of the legendary 1998 team.

In 2010, the Broncos thought they started this process by drafting Tim Tebow out of the University of Florida. To the Broncos, Tebow was an even better scrambler than Elway because every time he ran he possessed the heart that Elway had on his famous Super Bowl run. 

To the Broncos, Tebow was even more marketable than Elway because of his rare sense of morals in the crooked and scandalous 21st century world. To the Broncos, Tebow was one of the greatest steals in the history of the NFL draft, and they were just waiting for their 1998 team to develop right before their greedy eyes.

The only problem with the Broncos thinking is that Tebow is not even close to being a fraction of what Elway was during his NFL career.  Elway throws one of the most beautiful spirals in the history of the NFL and Tebow's sidearm release sometimes means he cannot even throw a spiral. 

Elway set passing records throughout his NFL career, and we are not even sure that Tebow can pass. Elway won two NFL titles and went to several more Super Bowl's while Tebow will probably only ever be able to cling to his two college titles. 

Elway was clearly going to be a star quarterback out of Stanford while most scouts were wondering if Tebow was even supposed to be a quarterback. Elway was a winner and we are still not even sure if Tim Tebow is a quarterback.

In all of this madness and hyperbolic writing lies the simple point that the Broncos and a lot of the sports world seem to be missing: marketability, attendance and fan excitement is based solely off of winning. 

Ask the Bobcats if it was worth drafting Adam Morrison just because he was marketable when they could be selling out playoff games with Rudy Gay. 

Ask the Texans if looking back they would have ever drafted Reggie Bush just to sell jerseys when they have an All-Star in Mario Williams and a team that always seems to be headed for a break through season. 

Ask any fan if they would rather have a quarterback who is pretty boy or a team who is a winner. 

The Broncos need to understand that games are not won through Hanes commercials and right now Kyle Orton does a far better job of impersonating a poor man's Elway than Tebow will ever do.  

What is being lost in this quarterback controversy is not how marketable Tebow is but how good Orton was and can be. Orton was the guy who help the Broncos score those 35 points last year, so the 45 to 35 losses did not look so bad. 

Orton was the guy who was leading the NFL in passing yards for most of the season while throwing to guys who probably carried Brandon Marshall's bags. Orton was the guy who is considered one of the league's best locker room leaders with the Bears and the Broncos. 

All of the sudden though, Orton's career is in limbo because the Broncos want to create a team that the fans want to see.  It is clear that if the Broncos do not keep Orton as their starting quarterback they are completely missing the point of what the fans really want.

If Orton can do a better job than Jake Delhomme did as the Panthers quarterback (this is probably going to happen), then he can excel in John Fox's offense while Tebow's scrambling and showmanship really does not fit in Fox's offense at all. 

The Broncos can win with Orton and be "unmarketable," or they can lose with Tebow and be a 3-13 version of the 1998 Broncos.  

The Broncos can either sell out games with Orton as the quarterback or see the stadium be filled with only Jesus freaks when Tebow takes snaps. 

It is a decision that is easy and obvious to everyone but the ignorant people running NFL franchises.