Cult hero Tebow delivers in historic fashion

By Kerry J. Byrne
Cold, Hard Football Facts Tim Tebowologist
 
For the better part of a year, throughout the mundane, sleep-inducing Kyle Orton Era, Denver Broncos fans did their best imitation of a famous guitar-strumming hippie of the gridiron. Their sing-song chant went something like this:

"All we are saying ... is give Tim Tebow a chance!"

John Fox finally did give Tebow a chance here in Week 7 of the 2011 season. It ended in spectacular and even historic fashion.

Consider this: Denver legend John Elway played 16 legendary Hall of Fame seasons in which he produced so many fantastic finishes that he’s considered by many the NFL’s great comeback king.
 
Elway’s ability to pull out big game-winning plays is nearly without peer. But overcoming two-touchdown deficits in the fourth quarter is rare throughout NFL history, even by the great Elway’s standards.
 
Over that entire 16-year career, Elway mounted two comebacks in the fourth quarter of 13 points or more.
 
Fast forward to Week 7 of the 2011 season: Cult hero Tim Tebow has now managed to match that feat in just his fourth NFL start. Denver’s shocking 18-15 win over Miami Sunday afternoon was the second 13-plus point fourth-quarter comeback of Tebow’s very brief career.
 
You read it right:

• Elway: two 13-plus-point fourth-quarter comebacks in 16 Hall of Fame seasons.
• Tebow: two 13-plus-point fourth-quarter comebacks in four NFL starts.

This information comes to us from Cold, Hard Football Facts contributor Scott Kacsmar, the man who built the nation’s greatest database of QB comebacks and game-winning drives. Kacsmar writes the incredible and fact-filled “Captain Comeback” column for us each week and also created the database used by ProFootballReference.com to chronicle comebacks and game-winning drives for every quarterback (for example, see Elway's comeback and game-winning drive page here).
 
By now you know the story of the Denver-Miami game here in week 7 of the NFL season.
 
The Broncos trailed 15-0 late in the fourth quarter but then rallied to tie in the 'Fins in truly shocking fashion. Tebow threw two touchdown passes and ran for a 2-point conversion in the final 3 minutes of regulation to tie the game at 15-15. Denver kicker Matt Prater booted a 52-yard field goal to win the game in overtime.
 
Football fans witnessed a similar but not-quite-as-miraculous finish near the end of the 2010 season. Houston led the Broncos 23-10 in Denver on the day after Christmas, as Tebow made just his second NFL start. The Texans actually led 17-0 at the half.
  
But Tebow threw a 23-yard TD to Correll Buckhalter early in the fourth quarter and then ran in from 6 yards out for the game-tying touchdown with just 3 minutes remaining in the game. The extra point lifted the Broncos to a 24-23 victory. 

Hall of Famer Elway produced a similarly spectacular comeback, also in his rookie season, and also in December.  
 
It was Week 15 of the 1983 season when the Baltimore Colts led the Broncos, 19-0, at the old Mile High Stadium heading into the fourth quarter. Young Elway then sparked an incredible rally that began to forge his reputation as one of the all-time great clutch quarterbacks. Elway threw three TD passes, each one longer than 20 yards, and Denver walked away 21-19 winners behind their rookie QB.
 
Elway would produce only one more fourth-quarter comeback of 13-plus points in his entire career. That game came in Week 5 of the 1992 season. The Broncos, again at home, trailed the Chiefs 19-6 in the fourth quarter before Elway threw a pair of touchdown passes to secure a 20-19 victory.  
 
History tells us that comebacks such as the one we witnessed out of Tebow and Broncos on Sunday are few and far between. And we’re certainly not trying to carve a bronze bust for Tebow after four career starts.
 
But the fact remains that the Denver QB has now produced extraordinarily rare comebacks twice in his first four NFL starts – accomplishments so rare that even Comeback King John Elway himself had done it only twice in his 16-year career.

No wonder why Broncos fans chanted "All we are saying is give Tebow a chance" for the past year. The experts may rip his throwing motion and his polish as a pocket passer. But Tebowhas proven he can make plays and win games. He's already doing it in historic fashion.

---

---

Read more: CHFF, Cold Hard Football Facts, Denver Broncos, John Elway, Kerry Byrne, Kerry J. Byrne, Miami Dolphins, NFL, Tim Tebow