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"FacebookPinterest\n\nThe moment when I first got religion on Tim Tebow, I was holding a blue tortilla chip about two feet from my mouth. I held it there so long that the pico de gallo eventually dislodged itself, plummeting onto the leg of my jeans. I barely noticed. The world was flatter than the TV screen a few yards in front of me, and all logic had just gone over the edge.\n\nSitting in the press lounge at Cowboys Stadium, where I had come to cover a mid-December game, I was witnessing the latest Tebow miracle play out with scores of my thoroughly entertained peers. Tebow, as usual, had been Ryan Leaf- atrocious for most of the game before leading the Denver Broncos to a late touchdown, cutting the Chicago Bears' lead to 10-7. All the Bears had to do was not trip on their dicks and it was over. And then, on cue, halfback Marion Barber brain-locked and ran out of bounds, giving Tebow enough wiggle room for another insane comeback, this one featuring two fifty-plus field goals by Matt Prater. Tebow wins\u2014again!\u2014continuing a trend that none of the players, coaches, front-office ecutives, or other football insiders with whom I constantly communicate even pretended to understand.\n\n Never before has an NFL player's success been so simultaneously polarizing, perplexing, and captivating. From the billboard that went up in Denver last September calling for Tebow to start, to the brilliant Saturday Night Live sketch that lampooned his over-the-top Christianity, to the evangelically euphoric victory lap he took after shredding the league's top defense in a playoff victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, Tebow hijacked a season and messed with football's finest minds. More than a dozen of them weigh in here, as we attempt to make sense of the ongoing conundrum known as Tebowmania.\n\n\u00B7\u00B7\u00B7\n\nTrent Dilfer (ESPN analyst and former NFL QB): The Tebow story has been the most dominant story since I've been announcing. Every conversation goes to this subject. It's unavoidable.\n\nJohn Fox (head coach, Denver Broncos): The minute you meet him, he has that presence. I went and met him for dinner during the draft process down in Gainesville. He's got a notebook, and he's into it. He just likes talking ball. And he picked up the tab\u2014I've never had that happen before.\n\nBrady Quinn (backup QB, Denver Broncos): Early in the season, there was a game when Kyle [Orton] got hurt and the coaches were calling for me to go in, but Kyle got up and finished the game out. So I was the second-string guy. Then, a few weeks later, they decided to put Tim in. I felt like the fans had a lot to do with that. Just 'cause they were chanting his name. There was a big calling for him. No, I didn't have any billboards. That would have been nice.\n\n\u00B7\u00B7\u00B7\n\n Week 7: Broncos 18, Dolphins 15\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\n *Tebow doesn't love the pocket, but he sure didn't mind it\n\nagainst Pittsburgh.*\n\nTebow gets first start of the season, is breathtakingly inept for nearly fifty-five minutes. Then, down 15-0 with 5:23 remaining, he engineers comeback, throws two TD passes. Broncos win in OT. \n\nFox: He's a very fiery competitor. I call it competitive greatness.\n\nJim Schwartz (head coach, Detroit Lions): Miami did a really good job of holding him down. And then, late in the game, they got into the \"Hey, we're going to play the clock\" kind of thing. Tebow was able to get the Broncos back in the game and tie it up. In overtime, Miami went back to doing what they'd been doing, but it was too late.\n\nD'Qwell Jackson (linebacker, Cleveland Browns): My first impression was, hell, I couldn't believe it. When you look at the stat line, it's like, okay, you made a great play, but it's not gonna last.\n\n\u00B7\u00B7\u00B7\n\nWeek 8: Lions 45, Broncos 10\n\nIt doesn't last. Tebow constantly harassed by Lions pass rush; sacked seven times.\n\nJohn Elway (ecutive vice president, Denver Broncos): He played three games [as a rookie], and then there's a new system and a lockout. No off-season! So you're talking about a new situation\u2014essentially a rookie quarterback, and he gets a good football team. The Lions just smothered him.\n\nDilfer: They did something I'm shocked other teams haven't done\u2014they attacked Tebow. They didn't attack the running game. They attacked Tebow.\n\nTerrell Suggs (outside linebacker, Baltimore Ravens): They say we were giving him a hard time because he's a Christian. No, that's not it! We were giving him a hard time because he was terrible. Fox: Part of coaching is putting guys in position to succeed. After the Detroit game, we had a [coaches] meeting and said, \"Listen, we didn't play very well. How can we help them? What can we do?\"\n\n\u00B7\u00B7\u00B7\n\nWeeks 9 and 10: The Streak Begins\n\nTebow piles 118 rushing yards on top of his two TD passes in 38-24 victory against Raiders; a week later, completes only two passes (!) against Chiefs but ekes out 17-10 win as Broncos run fifty-five times.\n\nKurt Warner (NFL Network analyst and former Rams, Giants, and Cardinals QB): A huge part of the credit goes to Coach Fox and that staff to say, \"Hey, this is who we've got. We think we can win with him, but we can't win the way we've been playing.\" From what I understand, a huge part of that was listening to Tim and saying, \"Okay, Tim, teach us. Tell us what you're good at. Let's try to cater the offense around that.\" And you don't find that very often, especially in an ego-driven league like ours.\n\nFox: The spread option can be tough. Like most of us in the NFL\u2014when I say \"us,\" I'm talking about coaches, especially defensive-minded coaches\u2014I had to deal with the option when I coached in college. And one of the nice things about pro ball is that you don't have to deal with that anymore.\n\nQuinn: The entire game, the defensive line is chasing the quarterback around, and that wears down the pass rush. Meanwhile, the defensive backs are chasing receivers, but you only throw eight passes, so they start to feel lazy. It only takes that one play, that one big pass, for a touchdown.\n\n\u00B7\u00B7\u00B7\n\nWeek 11: Broncos 17, Jets 13\n\nJets slop around but maintain upper hand until Tebow caps late-fourth-quarter drive (that begins at his own five) with twenty-yard game-winning TD run. Dilfer: He took advantage of a really bad blitz by, what's his name, [Eric] Smith. That blitz is designed to keep the quarterback from getting the edge. It's called a casino blitz: You're all in. Tim felt it early and beat them around the edge.\n\nSuggs: I couldn't believe my eyes. Somebody has to make a play, and nobody made a play.\n\nThomas Dimitroff (general manager, Atlanta Falcons): I think a lot of people around the league assumed, okay, when top-notch defensive-minded coaches like Rex Ryan came in there, [Tebow's win streak] was gonna come to a quick end. And it didn't. At that point, our entire league was truly back on our heels, thinking, Wow! This is for real now!\n\nWarner: I'm more of a purist, a drop-back passer, and there were times that it was almost difficult to watch. Like, this isn't supposed to be happening, and I don't know how to filter it through my brain.\n\n\u00B7\u00B7\u00B7\n\nWeek 12: Broncos 16, Chargers 13\n\nTebow, pregame: \"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.\" Broncos mount hard-won comeback to force game into OT; Chargers kicker blows OT field-goal attempt; Broncos hit theirs. \n\nFox: Yeah, he ran it twenty-two times. Well, I don't want to do that forever! I don't care who you are. Tim will say different, but it takes its toll.\n\nVon Miller (linebacker, Denver Broncos): He keeps his body in great shape. He's a strong guy. He's incredible in the weight room. It's just, \"What's next? What's next?\" With his mentality, there's no surrender. He gets his body prepared for those type of hits, and I don't think it's the guys that hit him, I think it's him hitting the guys.\n\nDilfer: It's very similar to how defenses play Roethlisberger. Ben and Tebow, they're so big and strong, they're so physical, that it definitely gets into the heads of the defense at the moment of truth. There's some hesitation in how they bring him down.\n\n\u00B7\u00B7\u00B7\n\nWeek 13: Broncos 35, Vikings 32\n\nTebow throws for 202 yards, including two TDs; Broncos kicker Matt Prater hits FG with 1:33 remaining to pull even; Vikings throw interception on next play from scrimmage; Prater splits game winner through uprights as time expires.\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\n *Tebowing, from sea to shining sea. You know you've\n\n arrived when you've got your own nation-sweeping pose.*\n\nJared Allen (defensive end, Minnesota Vikings): We decided not to cover anybody in that game, so we left guys wide-open for him to hit, which sucked. It can lull you to sleep, where you're just thinking, \"We can stop the run. We can stop Tebow.\" But you know, it's still the NFL. You don't need to be Tom Brady to hit a wide-open guy.\n\nDilfer: They're sitting back going, \"Okay, it's a running-back run. No, it's a quarterback run. Oh, it's a pass! Okay, he won't complete it. Oh, he did! Our coaches told us he couldn't do it! He just did it!\" What you see on film is, you don't see him getting rushed. Defenders were beating the right guard and then would stop, because they didn't want to run past Tebow and let him run. They just said, \"Give him all the time in the world. He's not gonna find the receiver.\"\n\nAllen: You can still see that child mentality in him. He just has that grin on his face, and he's out there playing ball. We were talking about sacks, and he said, \"You got lucky I fumbled that.\" I told him, \"You got lucky that everybody's been wide-open!\" He just laughed.\n\nWarner: I definitely think there's an aspect to the other side saying, \"Okay, we're gonna blow this team out, and we're not gonna give them a chance for Tebow Time.\" And then you find yourself in the fourth quarter, and they're still within striking distance. The other team's going, \"Oh, my gosh. Here we go.\"\n\nAllen: You know what the coolest part about the whole thing is? And the reason people hate it? Because it's showing that the conventional wisdom of coaches isn't really necessary. You know, coaches always think they have the winning theory: \"Our way is the right way! Blah blah blah!\" Well, here's a dude that they basically had to scrap the whole offense for and go back to running a college [system]. And they have been successful with it. Sometimes people think the game is more difficult than it is. If you find something that works, go with it. And I don't really think it has to be a nine-syllable frickin' play.\n\n\u00B7\u00B7\u00B7\n\nWeek 14: Broncos 13, Bears 10\n\nBears have the ball, up 10-7 with 2:08 left in the fourth; Broncos get ball back, hit fifty-nine-yard FG to send game into OT and fifty-one-yarder to win it. Tebow, postgame: \"If you believe, then unbelievable things can sometimes be possible.\"\n\nElway: To win football games, you've gotta have good things happen to you\u2014but when you believe they're gonna happen, then good things usually do happen. That's where he's been such a positive factor. It's changed the mind-set.\n\nMiller: I mean, you could just see our team's resiliency in action. Nobody was giving up.\n\nQuinn: We've had a lot of, I guess, luck, to put it simply.\n\nWarner: Being a faithful man and knowing where he stands at this stage, it was almost like divine intervention. It almost seemed tangible. It was just like, Oh, my goodness! Can you believe this? It can't happen again, can it?\n\nDilfer: I don't have a problem with what Tim Tebow's doing with [his outspoken Christianity]. I've seen him try to articulate why he has the belief and why he believes the things he does, in a very easy way to understand. He's not the guy, when the cameras are put in his face, saying, you know, \"Praise to God, because he supernaturally let that ball hit my receiver!\" You know what I mean? But he's up-front with it, and he makes many people uncomfortable. I do have a problem with what the Christian community is doing with his faith, that they are almost becoming a cult following. I think it's an \"us\" problem, not a \"him\" problem.\n\nNick Barnett (linebacker, Buffalo Bills): I think it does rub some of the guys the wrong way. For a lot of Christians, using football as a measuring stick of how good God is\u2014it's not necessarily what you're supposed to be doing.\n\nQuinn: If you look at it as a whole, there's a lot of things that just don't seem very humble to me. When I get that opportunity, I'll continue to lead not necessarily by trying to get in front of the camera and praying but by praying with my teammates, you know?\n\n\u00B7\u00B7\u00B7\n\nWeeks 15-17: The Skid\n\nTebow puts up decent numbers against Patriots, including two rushing TDs, but Denver loses 41-23. Broncos then lose two more to end regular season\u2014a 40-14 dismantling at Buffalo and unwatchable 7-3 pinnacle-of-suck loss to Kansas City\u2014and limp into playoffs. The Tebow backlash, already a low murmur in the league, explodes into the open.\n\nShawne Merriman (linebacker, Buffalo Bills): His teammates are making him look a lot better than he is.\n\nSuggs: I mean, it's an insult to us players. You know, wins are hard to come by in this league, and if I was Denver's defense, I would feel a certain way\u2014they're not allowed to [say it], 'cause they're all on one team, but people are making it look like Tim Tebow is the kid from Fooro\u2014which, that couldn't be more opposite. It's just crazy that we're calling him a phenomenon when basically he's mediocre. Cam Newton's a way better quarterback than Tim Tebow, and we don't have a Cam Newton phenomenon.\n\nElway: The great plays that everyone goes, \"Wow!\"\u2014we all know he's got that. You don't touch that. I get encouraged when I see him working within the system and throwing on time, with good feet. That, to me, is where he's getting better. Consistency and accuracy is gonna come when he gets consistent with his feet. It's like a pitcher: The front foot comes down on the same spot every single time. He's just never really worked on that.\n\n Suggs: He went six for twenty-two for sixty yards [against the Chiefs]! That's terrible quarterbacking. Are you kidding me? No matter how many bad games Tim Tebow is gonna have, it's \"He's great.\" I'll never understand it.\n\nMerriman: No one has seen him actually take over a football game.\n\nSuggs: If he wins the playoff game, I'll be very surprised. And I'll get off him. And I'll say, \"I don't know what it is about him, but he does know how to win.\" But until he wins the playoff game, I'm not a believer.\n\nBarnett: It's gonna end one of two ways\u2014\"I told you so\" or \"Tebow did it.\"\n\n\u00B7\u00B7\u00B7\n\n Ecstasy on Wild Card Weekend, Agony in New England\n\nBefore being dominated and outclassed in season-ending loss to Patriots, Tebow figuratively flips off naysayers and delivers a monster game against Steelers: 316 passing yards, QB rating of 125.6, three TDs (two in the air, one on the ground). On first play from scrimmage in OT, Tebow hits Demaryius Thomas on routine over-the-middle pass that weirdly (miraculously?!) develops into eighty-yard game-winning TD. A few days later, ESPN poll names Tebow the most popular athlete in America.\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\n Will they still be cheering next year? \n\nSuggs: I'm shocked. Jaw is on the floor! He shocked us all.\n\nDilfer: The one thing he can do is throw the ball deep. I said it on draft day: Give him time; he can locate the deep ball. He did it against Alabama, he did it against LSU, he did it against every team he played. It's a slower-developing play. And he's always been very good at it.\n\nTodd Haley (former head coach, Kansas City Chiefs): As we saw against the Patriots, it's obviously imperative that the game be close for him to work his magic. In the end, I'd say he was a winner who clearly got better as the year went on. He has one more playoff win than a lot of quarterbacks. It's hard to believe he will ever belong in the elite-passer category, but he's obviously a leader of men and a good football player\u2014and you can never have enough of those.\n\nElway: He has changed the culture of that locker room. The way he handles his life, the way he is with people, the way he is with media\u2014everybody wants to fight over what he is on the football field, but for the NFL, for the Denver Broncos, he's perfect. He's a great kid. You know, people want him to be successful. And so do I. Everybody in this building does, too. If he's the guy that can be our guy for ten, fifteen years, that's a hell of a deal for us.\n\nDilfer: The question Elway has to answer is \"Are you all in on the offense Tim runs, or are you trying to get him to run a normal offense?\" If the latter, he has a lot of work to do this off-season\u2014and it's going to be very hard to achieve, in my opinion. If the former, you'd better get a backup who plays like Tebow. But I think there's a limit to how successful you can be.\n\nWarner: To me, it's a biblical story. That's what the Bible's full of: ordinary guys who are able to accomplish extraordinary things, not by their own strength and might but by God's hands coming with them. And I think it's very similar to my story and what people took from me going from a grocery-store clerk to a Super Bowl champion. Often we want to focus on the individual and the great things he's done, kind of like Tim Tebow, and rightfully so. But the thing you always notice in the Bible is that the result of those things is other people believing. That's what I take away from this: Tim is an ordinary guy who by football standards might be considered ordinary but is doing some extraordinary things. I've seen a team and commentators and analysts and fans come to believe. And it doesn't always have to be believing in Jesus and believing in faith. They're believing in the fact that regardless of our limitations, we can still accomplish great things.\n\nMichael Silver is an NFL columnist for Yahoo! Sports."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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