Nathan Aronoff
Preview:
“And here we go. The first snap of the overtime. The Broncos have been in three overtime games this year, they won them all. Got him, got him at the 40! It’s Thomas at the 50! Stiff arm got him free to the 30, tomorrow the 20. Thomas to the 10… Denver’s going on to New England! They win it on the first play of overtime!”
Growing up my favorite quarterback wasn’t the typical franchise guy. It wasn’t Peyton Manning, not Drew Brees, and certainly not Tom Brady. My favorite quarterback growing up was Tim Tebow. Was Tim Tebow a superstar? Not really. Was Tim Tebow good? I’m not sure about that. Was Tim Tebow bad? I wouldn’t say that. But was Tim Tebow entertaining? No doubt about it! This is the story of how Timothy Richard Tebow became the most intriguing athlete in America.
30 Minutes:
It was halftime of the 2008-2009 college football national championship game between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Florida Gators. The score was tied at 7 a piece when the Gators huddled together in their locker room. The first half was physical and brutal, the team was gassed and needed motivation. Head coach Urban Meyer wasn’t fazed, he knew exactly who would step up. With 30 minutes left to the biggest game of the year, the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner and leader of the team, quarterback Tim Tebow made his way to the center of the huddle and poured his soul out to his peers: “Hey, we got 30 minutes for the rest of our lives! 30 minutes for the rest of our lives! That's our bet on first down, it ain't happening! We get the ball, I promise you one thing, we're going to hit somebody and take it down the field for a touchdown, I guarantee you that. Look at me! Look at me! We got 30 minutes for the rest of our lives, let’s go!”
Inspired by Tebow, the Gators played their hearts out and dominated the second half. Florida won at a final score of 24-14 and won the National Championship, Tebow’s second. In a postgame interview, Gators’ running back Percy Harvin compared Tebow to Superman, and he wasn’t that far off. Tebow threw for 231 yards and a pair of touchdowns while also rushing for over 100 yards.
After Tebow completed his incredible college football career the left-handed quarterback was selected in the first round by the Denver Broncos. In his rookie year, Tebow only started 3 games and was underwhelming. He went 1-2 with a passer rating of 82.1.
The Emergence:
In Tebow’s second season, he did not start week 1 either. After the Broncos started 1-4 through their first 5 games under Kyle Orton, Tebow got thrown into action. The left-hander's first start came on October 23rd, 2011, in Miami, against the 0-5 Dolphins. The Dolphins were the worst team in the league at the time so Tebow’s first start should go smoothly, right? Right?! Wrong! Tebow’s offense didn’t score even once through the first 56 minutes of the game and with four minutes left the Broncos found themselves in a 15-0 hole. However, throughout his entire career, when the fourth quarter came around, Tim Tebow became Houdini. Just when Broncos’ fans had given up on the game, Tebow led his team right down the field and found receiver Demaryius Thomas for a touchdown with under three minutes on the clock. Denver managed to get the ball back and Tim Tebow did the rest. In cinematic fashion, Tebow orchestrated a terrific drive and hit tight end Daniel Fells in the endzone with 17 seconds to play. The Broncos still needed the 2-pt conversion to send the game to overtime. Naturally, as he tends to do when the entire game comes down to one play, Tim Tebow ran the ball in himself to punch in the 2-pt conversion and tie the game. The Broncos went on to win the game 18-15 in overtime and a legend was born.
Two weeks later the Broncos faced the Oakland Raiders in a pivotal divisional matchup. Denver found themselves in a 17-7 hole at halftime. But as long as Tim Tebow was under center, the game was far from over. Tebow and the Broncos came roaring back by scoring 31 points in the second half. Tebow had two comeback wins in three weeks. The next week the Broncos went on the road and beat the Kansas City Chiefs 17-10.
Only four days later, during a Thursday night matchup against the New York Jets, Tebow and the Broncos found themselves down by 3 late in the fourth quarter. However, throughout his entire career, when the fourth quarter came around, Tim Tebow became Houdini. Tim Tebow led his offense right down the field and capped off the drive with a 20-yard rushing touchdown of his own to take the lead with under a minute to play. The Broncos won the game, their third win in a row.
The very next week the Broncos faced the San Diego Chargers on the road. Yet again, Denver found themselves trailing after the two-minute warning. In classic Timmy Tebow fashion, Tebow led his offense right down the field and into the red zone. However, this time the Broncos were held off at the 7-yard line and had to settle for a game-tying field goal. Overtime got off to a slow start, and neither team scored on their first few drives. Then, exactly when it seemed as if the game would end in a tie, Tim Tebow became Houdini. He put the team on his back and single-handedly set up a 37-yard Matt Prater field goal to win the game. Thanks to 22 carries in the game from Tebow, as the quarterback, the Broncos won their fourth straight game.
One week later, the Broncos traveled to Minneapolis to face the Minnesota Vikings. Yet again, Denver found themselves trailing late in the game. Exactly when the Vikings thought they were pulling ahead, Tim Tebow became Houdini. Tebow orchestrated a 66-yard drive for a touchdown and capped it off by punching the ball in himself for the 2-pt conversion to tie the game at 29. The two teams traded field goals before Tim Tebow got the ball back in a tie game with under a minute and a half remaining. No surprise, the Broncos won the game. Matt Prater nailed a 23-yard field goal to put Denver ahead as time expired. Timmy and the Broncos were now on a 5-game winning streak.
The next week the Broncos played an instant classic against the Chicago Bears. This time, the Broncos trailed by 10 points in the fourth quarter. Again, when the fourth quarter came around, Tim Tebow became Houdini. With two minutes left to play Tebow found Demaryius Thomas in the endzone to bring the Broncos back within three. They got the ball back with slightly under a minute remaining. Tim Tebow did his thing and set up a 59-yard field goal to send the game to overtime. The Broncos had been to OT three times in the past eight weeks and already knew the drill. They didn’t waste any time and won the game less than a minute and a half into the overtime period. 6 consecutive wins, 5 come from behind wins for the Late-Game Magician, Tim Tebow.
The Broncos ended up making the playoffs as the worst division winners in the NFL and had to face the 12-4 Pittsburgh Steelers in the wildcard round. Despite being the away team, the Steelers were heavy favorites. In addition, Tebow’s magic seemed to run out as the season neared its end. Tebow was determined to prove that he didn’t need said magic to win games and started the game red-hot. Tebow scored in the second quarter both through the air and on the ground, and the Broncos led 20-6 at halftime. But things could never come stress-free when Tim Tebow was on the field. The Broncos completely collapsed in the second half and the Steelers fought all the way back to tie the game at 23 and send it to overtime, AKA Tebow-Time. Throughout his entire career, when the game was on the line, Tim Tebow became Houdini. Denver won the coin toss and elected to receive. On the very first play of overtime, lightning struck… “And here we go. First snap of the overtime. The Broncos have been in three overtime games this year, they won them all. Got him, got him at the 40! It’s Thomas at the 50! Stiff arm got him free to the 30, to the 20. Thomas to the 10… Denver’s going on to New England! They win it on the first play of overtime!”
Not All Rainbows and Lollipops:
The next week, Denver headed out to Foxborough to face the evil empire, the New England Patriots. Tebow looked like a lost sheep against Brady and the Broncos got blown out. Due to Tebow’s lackluster performance against Brady, the Broncos jumped at the opportunity to replace him with the only quarterback who even compared to the GOAT, Peyton Manning. With Manning on the team, the Broncos looked to ship Tebow out of town. Tebow’s stats weren’t great on paper, so he ended up being sent off to the New York Jets to back up Mr. butt-Fumble himself, Mark Sanchez. Tebow couldn’t stand watching from the sidelines and after only one year as a Jet, Tim Tebow called it quits.
Yes, You Read That Right:
Four years after leaving the NFL, Tim Tebow reappeared on a different New York team. No, not the Giants or the Bills, but the New York Mets. In 2016 Tim Tebow began his career as a professional baseball player. In 2018 Tebow had his best season. In 84 games with the Mets’ AA affiliate, the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, Tebow drove in 36 runs and had an OPS of .734, enough to get the outfielder promoted to AAA. Tebow struggled in AAA in 2019 with an abysmal batting average of .163. After four years in the Mets minor league system, the team decided that they had seen enough and decided to part ways with Tebow. Just like that, Tebow’s baseball career came to an end and the MLB never got to see the Late-Game Magician, Tim Tebow.
Yes, You Read That Right 2.0:
Prior to the 2021 season, the Jacksonville Jaguars were in the hunt for a new head coach. The Jaguars elected to bring in one of the best to ever do it on the college level, three-time national champion, and former Florida head coach, Urban Meyer. One of Meyer’s first moves as head coach was to sign the man who played quarterback for two of his three national championship teams, Tim Tebow. But Meyer didn’t sign Tebow to play quarterback, Tebow came to Jacksonville to play tight end. You can’t spell Tebow without TE. Tebow suited up for the Jaguars’ first preseason matchup against the Cleveland Browns. Tebow played 15 snaps and all he managed to do was go viral for an embarrassing missed block. After only a single appearance as a tight end, the Jaguars put an end to the experiment and let go of Tebow in their first round of cuts two days after the game. In the wake of being cut, Tebow decided to hang up his cleats and retire from the NFL for good this time.
Conclusion:
Following his release Tim tweeted the following: “Thankful for the highs and even the lows, the opportunities, and the setbacks. I’ve never wanted to make decisions out of fear of failure and I’m grateful for the chance to have pursued a dream…” In my opinion, the tweet is an excellent recap of Tebow’s career. Tim Tebow might not end up in the Hall of fame (Neither NFL or MLB) but he made sure to leave no stone unturned and no path not taken. When all is said and done, there is not a single sports fan in America who has not heard the name Tim Tebow. That is the story of the one-hit-wonder, the multi-sport athlete, the Late-Game Magician, Tim Tebow.
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