Denver Broncos QB Tim Tebow Makes Good on the Bottom Line

The bottom line in the NFL?

Winning football games and ultimately the Super Bowl.

The bottom line for Tim Tebow?

Well, winning football games. (Let’s avoid any SB discussion until a later date.)

Okay, we have heard this argument before time and again from the constituents of Tebow Mania. ("What time is it? Teeeboooow Tiiiime!" I couldn’t help myself. I apologize.)

Must we continue to acknowledge it? Yes. It cannot be ignored.

Fanatical insanity aside, the bottom line is the bottom line. And for a $9 billion dollar business, as the NFL undoubtedly is, attaining that goal (i.e. winning football games) trumps all else in importance.

Tim Tebow attains that goal.

The Denver Broncos were 1-4 and in prime position to secure the No. 1 draft pick in the Andrew Luck sweepstakes with Kyle Orton as the starting quarterback. With roughly one-third of the schedule in the books, this team was on pace for a 3-13 record at season’s end.

If not for the pathetic winless Colts, I’d say a total of three wins and 13 losses would have great potential to qualify as the worst record in the league.

Let’s introduce another number: 15, the number on the back of Timothy Richard Tebow’s jersey.

With this 6’3’’ 236-pounder inserted as the starting quarterback (much to the chagrin of head coach John Fox and GM John Elway, at least initially), the Broncos have emerged victorious in six out of seven games, not to mention five consecutively through Week 13.

Tebow also has four game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime according to Profootballreference.com (http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/T/TeboTi00.htm). That number increases to five when one expands the parameters to include the second-half.

However, we must ultimately eliminate numbers if we are to understand the manner in which Tebow succeeds. Granted, a 10-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio, zero fumbles lost and a .857 winning-percentage allow us to conceptualize his success.

To the point, though, his intangible attributes supersede those statistics as well as his highly misleading 47.5 completion-percentage. He leads. He makes the teammates around him better. He elevates them to levels unattained without his presence in the starting lineup.

He breaks the mold of the traditional NFL quarterback and could care less that he does. In spite of all the detractors stemming from his days back in high school, he wins. (Not to say that he wins intending to spite anyone.)

Sorry Merril Hoge, but those “rah rah speeches” that you so pejoratively qualified actually work. (http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/more_sports/hoge_sticks_to_his_guns_amid_tebow_fHOZhLZ8MtypNLRipSPI1M).

To John Fox and your continually improving playbook, I happily give credit where credit is due. But with that credit comes the more pertinent acknowledgment that you made Tebow the starting quarterback with the sole intention of him failing so your boss Elway could draft and develop the prototypical pocket-passer in the likeness of himself.

To respectfully invoke the words that the late Al Davis coined so famously, “Just Win Baby.” Such applies to the mindset of No. 15. (My sincere apologies, Mr. Davis. I realize you had wanted this solely for your beloved Raiders.)

Tim Tebow resurrected the Broncos from a putrid last-place standing and the realm of NFL irrelevancy. They are currently tied for the AFC West-lead for a future spot in the playoffs.

Sure looks like a winning pedigree to me. Here’s to the bottom line and those who achieve it.