Tim Tebow: QB Switch Won't Yield Wins for Denver Broncos Just Yet

Replacing Kyle Orton with Tim Tebow was the right move—really, the only move—for John Fox to make for the Denver Broncos against the San Diego Chargers on Sunday. Just don't expect any dramatic improvement in the team's win-loss record anytime soon.

And not only because the Broncos won't play in Week 6. Denver will probably win at Miami in Week 7, though not necessarily on account of Tebow taking over for Captain Neckbeard; the Dolphins are terrible and have only gotten worse now that Chad Henne is out for the season.

The real test of the Broncos' winning capacity will have to wait until Week 8, when the Detroit Lions leap into Mile High Stadium with what figures to be a pretty darn good record. Chances are, that game will register as another loss on Denver's radar, as will Week 9 at Oakland and perhaps even Week 10 in Kansas City.

Realistically, the Broncos would be lucky to finish the season with more than four or five wins, if even that many. They're still banged-up on both sides of the ball and would be lucky to sniff .500 even if they were totally healthy.

Which brings us back to Tebow, whose success or failure under center won't necessarily coincide with that of his team. Let's not forget, he's in the midst of just his second NFL season and came out of Florida as a raw quarterback prospect, to say the least.

Broncos management loved Tebow's moxie, his determination and his leadership enough to overlook his obvious shortcomings as a pocket passer.

Turning him into one wasn't going to be any walk in the park, either, though the process begins in earnest, and by fire, now that Tebow has the reins of the Broncos offense firmly in his grasp. It will have to, if Denver is ever to find its way out of the doldrums of the NFL anytime soon.

It certainly won't be easy, but at least it's finally happening, for the sake of the Denver Broncos and their fans. John Fox owed it to his team and his organization to try to win, but after four-and-a-half games, when it became clear that 2011 wasn't going to be a big bounce-back year for the Broncos, he had the green light to shift into rebuilding mode.

Not that Fox didn't put Tebow in for the sake of winning, at least not in the immediate term. Clearly, Orton wasn't the right man for the job, but frankly, the Broncos don't seem to have the proper parts to succeed, regardless of which of their three quarterbacks is taking snaps.

Win or lose, success or failure, putting the team in Tebow's hands is all about building for the future. If he does well and the team improves, then Denver may yet have its quarterback of the future. If not, then at least the Broncos will know to target another young signal caller in the 2012 NFL Draft, and will presumably have a high enough draft pick to do so.

So, really, there's no way the Broncos can lose by giving the ball the Tim Tebow.

Except, of course, in the standings.