Lions Embarrass Tebow and the Broncos 45-10

Denver's 45-10 defeat at the hands of the Detroit Lions was a shot to stomach for myself and many Broncos fans. Not only did the Broncos get whipped by 35 points at home, but Tim Tebow did not play well, and the Tebow Era could be coming to an end pretty soon. Before we get to the Tebow situation, the game was an absolute debacle for the Broncos. After taking a 3-0 lead early, the Lions went off. Matt Stafford hit Titus Young on a touchdown pass after Brian Dawkins and Andre Goodman blew a coverage. Tony Scheffler scored on a 1 yard touchdown reception to exact some revenge on the Broncos to make it 17-3. After Detroit scored a late touchdown to take a 24-3 halftime lead, Cliff Avril stripped Tim Tebow and returned the fumble for a touchdown to make it 31-3 early in the third quarter. A Calvin Johnson touchdown catch after blowing past Champ Bailey made it 38-3, and then Tebow was picked off by Chris Houston, and he returned it 100 yards for a touchdown to make it 45-3. 45 straight points after the Broncos took an early lead. It was a pretty remarkable beatdown by the Lions, and the loss dropped Denver to 2-5, and basically killed any momentum the Broncos had from the Miami win the week before. Everyone has killed Tebow on this game's outcome, but the Broncos defense was absolutely terrible. I know they were on the field a lot after many three and outs by the Denver offense, but they still gave up so many huge plays and couldn't do anything to deter the Lions. What ever happened to Elvis Dumervil? Where is this amazing pass rush from Dumervil and Von Miller? How bad is the Brian Dawkins Era in Denver? Are there any other starting corners worse than Andre Goodman? All of these questions came into my mind as I was watching this disaster. Overall, Sunday's game just exposed that there are many things wrong the Broncos and it is not just Tim Tebow. Now to Tebow.....

Look, Sunday's loss was not pretty for Tim Tebow. He was 18-39 for 172 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Also, he had three fumbles, one of which was returned for a touchdown. At one point, he was like 6-20 going into the fourth quarter. It was a rough day for him, and he looked battered and beaten. It wasn't what Tebow supporters were looking for, and it won't help him keep this starting job for much longer. After watching the game a few times, I actually thought that Tebow threw the ball better this game than the Miami game. He had some bad luck, some key drops, and he was under fire all game long. I know he didn't play well, but there were some things that I thought he did better this week.

With that said, the Tebow experiment might be over in Denver pretty soon. John Fox stated that Tebow was the starter in Oakland for this week, and there is a strong feeling around the Broncos that Tebow's days as the starter could be over. Who would the Broncos turn to? I don't know, but if you want to see a shitload of empty seats at Denver home games after Thanksgiving, then go ahead and start Kyle Orton or Brady Quinn. The sad thing is that Tebow will not get a long look in Denver. If he doesn't play great and doesn't win, then Fox will yank him and his shot in Denver will probably be over. Is it fair? Definitely not, but the Broncos will go with the fact that Fox and John Elway didn't draft Tebow, so they are not married to him. I understand that, but to pull the plug on him after only a handful of games just doesn't make sense. I don't care how bad it gets, let him play it out. The team is obviously not going anywhere, so just let him play, and if he continues to stink, then they can justify looking for someone else to be the Broncos QB in 2012. To bench Tebow after a few games is just dumb in my opinion.

The other sad part of this Tebow situation is the amount of glee that announcers and analysts take in his demise. It is almost like the NFL experts are so bent on proving that he is going to stink, that any little negative play in his game is exaggerated. Has anyone watched Blaine Gabbert this year? He looks worse than Tebow, and yet Merril Hoge is not ripping him at every moment. I know Tebow is a lightning rod and an extremely popular player coming out of college, but the amount of shots that this kid has taken from the media is just simply ridiculous. Why does the media go to great lengths to rip Tebow so much? The popularity is one thing. Another factor is the fact that Tebow is very religious. Also, I would hate to say this but many of the African-American commentators do not want to praise Tebow because he is a white guy who plays the QB position like a black guy. All the black analysts are still bitter at how Vince Young fizzled out, so they don't want to see a guy like Tebow succeed because he would be proving that Vince Young is a fraud and is lazy. For those factors, many people want to see Tim Tebow fail. Any bad throw he makes will be food for the critics, and any good plays he makes will make the critics find holes. It is a shame, but that is the truth.

My final point on the Tebow situation is this: It looks like Tebow will never really get a fair chance in Denver. People inside the Broncos' building and coaching staff don't really believe in him, and his time in Denver will most likely be over after this season. Tebow represented hope for the Broncos fans, and now that he is not playing well, then all that hope just seems lost now. It is sad because Tebow would be a great guy to lead the Denver franchise. Perhaps Tebow will get a chance with a coach and a team that believes in him, and I hope he does well. I really thought Tebow could work out, but he was caught in a regime change. The next question for Broncos fans should be who will be the Broncos starter in 2012? We have time to discuss that for the entire offseason, but for now every time Tebow loses and doesn't play well, it just sets the Broncos franchise back even more. Tebow deserves better than this.