The world may not be ready for Tim Tebow.
It may not be ready for his awkward throwing motion, the unconventional offense he runs or his pigskin proselytizing.
The Broncos, however, certainly are.
Tebow, the home-schooled, anti-abortion Christian crusader, has divided NFL fans everywhere.
But he has united a team.
The Broncos are 6-1 since he became their starting quarterback. And they were 1-4 before he became a starter.
He may save the Broncos. He may save the NFL. He may save humanity.
The gospel Tebow preaches and the trend he began called “Tebowing” — praying on one knee — has distracted the public from taking a good, hard look at the player.
NFL scouts evaluate Tebow and see someone who shouldn’t make the team. Opposing NFL coaches evaluate Tebow and see someone they haven’t been able to beat.
Tebow has completed only 47.5 percent of his passes, though he has thrown only one interception. And he has taken off running on more than half of his snaps.
Even Broncos Vice President John Elway has acknowledged he isn’t sure if Tebow is the long-term answer in Denver. But the case for Tebow becomes stronger every week.
Broncos coach John Fox draws a parallel between the Tebow phenomenon and the Michael Vick experience when Vick was a young player for the Falcons. Fox, who was the coach of the Panthers when Vick started tearing up the league mostly with his feet, views Vick as a different quarterback for the Eagles today.
“Michael Vick is still running around,” he said. “And he has learned to be a better passer over the years. That’s what I liken this to.”
Sunday in a victory against the Vikings, Tebow flipped the switch, becoming more quarterback than running back. He ran only four times and passed for 202 yards with a 149.3 passer rating.
“I think he’s going to succeed at quarterback,” Fox told the Tribune. “He has gotten better every week. He’s young. Like all young quarterbacks, it’s a growing process.”
Tebow defies logic. Fox talks about Tebow’s “competitive greatness.”
At Florida, he won two national championships and a Heisman Trophy.
With the Broncos, who are host to the Bears on Sunday, he has been difficult to beat as well. Tebow has five fourth-quarter comebacks to win games in his first 10 starts. That ties him with Marc Wilson and Scott Brunner for best in NFL history since 1970.
Tebow is unlike any quarterback in the league.
“He’s a football player,” Fox said. “You know that the first 10 minutes you’re with him. There’s a mindset, there’s a confidence, an ‘it’ factor. I can’t say he’s going to be a Hall of Famer, five Pro Bowls or one Pro Bowl. But he’s a football player, and we’ll see where that takes us.”
Fox acknowledges Tebow cannot run a conventional NFL offense. But that doesn’t mean Tebow can’t win running an unconventional option offense.
“Nobody knows,” Fox said. “There are teams that have great success with it at the college level, and they are just one step away from the pro level.”
One of the reasons critics believe an option-style offense can’t work in the NFL is because it exposes the quarterback to too many hits. Fox isn’t so sure a quarterback running is in any more danger than one passing.
“I know this,” he said. “There are way more vicious hits on drop-back passers than there are on runners. That’s why they have all these defenseless player rules for quarterbacks and wideouts and not running backs.”
At 6-foot-3, 236 pounds, Tebow doesn’t get the raw end of too many collisions. Fox says Tebow plays with the mentality of a middle linebacker. And he’s not just a big runner, he’s also skilled. He knows how to avoid a big pop, and he does it well.
The other primary criticism of the option offense is it’s considered less capable of overcoming deficits and winning shootouts. Fox acknowledges the offense usually leads to lower scoring games because runs take up more clock, and runs usually don’t gain as many yards as passes.
So playing good defense is a necessary part of what the Broncos are doing too.
“If you fall behind 24-3 like we did against Detroit, that’s tough sledding for anybody,” Fox said. “I don’t care what kind of offense you have.”
Whether Tebow can succeed in the NFL can be debated. What cannot is whether he can lead in the NFL.
Twitter @danpompei
