Tebow Mania

Tim Tebow is the epiphany of all that is right with the NFL and its players. Deeply religious, humble, and hard working he seems to be a perfect role model for any kid that chooses football players to pattern their personality around. Even the fame he has accumulated hasn't swayed him into becoming someone he is not. The question becomes then...why am I, and thousands of people around the country, sick and tired of Tim Tebow and constantly root for him to fail? The answer to this question built up throughout the last year due to the unparalleled media hype surrounding Tim Tebow. Ever since his first miracle 4th quarter victory, the media has tried to over-hype Tebow as something that he is not, a great quarterback.

Tim Tebow's identity became someone who could play awful the first three quarters of a game, yet come back in the 4th quarter and carry his team back for the win. When people began to connect Tim Tebow's uncharacteristic success with his in-game prayers and post-game God crediting antics Tebow mania intensified even further. In his first career playoff game, Tebow led the Broncos to a 29-23 overtime win against the favored Pittsburgh Steelers. He racked up a career high 316 yards which people quickly connected with the famous Bible verse John 3:16 and attributed God as the reason why the Broncos won the game. People who previously had attributed Tebow's success to his religious beliefs now added further beef to their opinions. At this point in Tebow mania I had jumped on the Tebow bandwagon, finding Tebow's win-against-all-odds season hilarious. What changed my opinion of Tebow happened last summer, when the media continued to rave about Tebow and made some bold statements that I found to be utterly ridiculous. 

My disdain for Tebow and Tebow mania started when I was watching ESPN and ESPN related programming throughout the course of the summer. Tebow was all over ESPN because he was traded to the Jets in the summer. Supposed experts began to make bold predictions that Tim Tebow was the missing piece that the Jets needed in order to win the Super Bowl. Skip Bayless claimed on his show that if he had to win one game he would take Tebow at quarterback over Aaron Rodgers. Tebow running shirtless in the rain became a story on ESPN and was even discussed at length on a multitude of sports talk shows. Every day it seemed there was a new story surrounding Tebow and the Jets training camp. Reporters were taking extremely irrelevant details about the Jets camp and turning them into headline stories supposedly worth 10 minutes of discussion. What reporters failed to mention throughout last summer is the fact that Tim Tebow is a terrible NFL quarterback and in no way, shape, or form can lead the Jets to a Super Bowl.

Tim Tebow's first year success can be best described as lucky. In 2011, when he essentially rescued the Broncos year, his passing percentage was a dismal 46% and his passing rating was also awful at 72.9. Yet, he magically was able to rescue the Broncos in the 4th quarter, miraculously pulling off late game and overtime comebacks. These were cute when they were happening but realistically, with his skill set, he will be unable to duplicate anything like his 2011 miracle comebacks. Honestly, if Tim Tebow was a good quarterback then why is he the backup to Mark Sanchez? On a good day, Mark Sanchez is a decent quarterback, ironically having the same career passing rating as Tebow had in 2011 and throwing 55 career picks to only 60 touchdowns. Tebow is more of a role player. He can't throw for his life, but put him in the wildcat formation and he actually begins to shine. The Jets need to find ways to fit him into their offense by utilizing his strengths, not trying to make him something he is not. Tim Tebow can be a game changer with his legs but he is far from the solution to all of the Jets problems and definitely doesn't make them a serious Super Bowl contender.

As for Tebow mania, it will roar on because ESPN thrives on interesting stories and controversial topics. I will continue to root against Tebow, not because he is a bad guy or on a rival team but because I can't stand things being over-hyped by the media.