Tim Tebow: Should Denver Broncos Keep Polarizing QB as Starter?

Denver Broncos head coach John Fox will be anything but well-rested after his team's Week 6 bye, as he'll spend the "time off" trying to figure out who his starting quarterback is going to be.

If Sunday's narrow defeat to the San Diego Chargers is any indication, he has no other choice but to wrest the reins of the offense from Kyle Orton and hand them over to Tim Tebow.

At 1-4, it's already clear that the Broncos aren't going anywhere, especially not with Captain Neckbeard leading the way. Orton came into Sunday having completed just under 60 percent of his passes and thrown six interceptions. His ineptitude continued against the Bolts, as he completed just 6-of-13 for 34 yards and a pick before the Broncos coaching staff pulled him in the second half.

That left Timmy Terrific with the tough task of leading his team back from a 26-10 deficit in the fourth quarter. After shaking off some rust in the third quarter, Tebow promptly led the Broncos to back-to-back touchdown drives in the final period and came close to pulling out a third with time expiring.

It wasn't always pretty, on video or on paper, as Tebow finished the game with just four completions in 10 attempts.

But, to his credit, Tebow contributed in the ground game, racking up 38 yards and a touchdown on six carries. More importantly, he almost single-handedly made the game interesting, if not downright exciting. He pulled off plays with his arm and his legs, as best exemplified on the last play of the game, when he scrambled for 10 seconds or so before firing a dart into the end zone that Matt Willis nearly came up with.

He gave the team a definite spark and brought energy, enthusiasm and leadership to an offensive unit that was clearly lacking in those departments with Orton calling the shots.

If anything, Tebow is the only logical choice to start at this point. Denver couldn't have been expected to contend in the AFC West this season, as weak as the division may be, not with last season's 2-14 debacle still so close at hand.

This is a team that's playing for the future, and it's become abundantly clear that Orton is not and will not be the quarterback to lead the Broncos into a new era. For all anyone knows, Tebow might not be the right guy either, but the Broncos owe it to him, themselves and their fans to find out. If it works out, and Tebow plays well, then Denver will be in great shape.

If not, then at least the front office can move forward in its search for the heir apparent to John Elway's Mile High throne that has eluded the team for so long.

In essence, John Fox needs to utilize the bye and the 11 games remaining on the team's schedule as a sort of experiment, mixing and matching his personnel to see who and what works best to build the team back to respectability, slowly but surely.

Tebow will be the most important specimen in Fox's football lab, the one on whose performance, good or bad, the future of the franchise hinges.