National Football League
Broncos Nation forgetting its savior
National Football League

Broncos Nation forgetting its savior

Published Mar. 12, 2012 1:00 a.m. ET

No surprise: Peyton Manning’s remarkably dignified departure from the Colts has given way to a profligate period of rumor-mongering.

By now, you just about know where he is going, don’t you? I mean, you have a very strong feeling, right? Just like all those Jets fans actually believed — only three days ago, mind you — that Manning wouldn’t have a problem playing for Rex Ryan in New York. I got a kick out of that one.

Now Dolphins fans wait for the inevitable news that owner Stephen Ross has transferred a considerable portion of his wealth to the Manning estate. I mean, Manning already has a home in South Florida, where there’s no state tax. Done deal, right?

Of course. Manning would love to take his chances there, on a 6-10 team with a new head coach who has his own ideas about offense.

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Well, maybe not if all that stuff about him wanting to win a Super Bowl is true. Look, I’m not saying he couldn’t go to the Dolphins. I’m just saying that if he does, it means he knows a whole lot more about the declining state of the Patriots and the Jets than you know about the state of his health.

Then again, winning the AFC East shouldn’t be confused with Peyton’s stated goal, which is winning championships. If he really wants to win another title, there is one best choice. That would be San Francisco, which dominated the NFC for most of the season and came within a field goal of qualifying for the Super Bowl.

Unfortunately, as most people know by now, Jim Harbaugh is a control freak who takes things very personally and wouldn’t want to coach the guy who replaced him with the Colts. That’s a fact.

Just like the state of Peyton Manning’s health is a fact. He’s fully recovered from four neck surgeries in 19 months. You know this for two reasons. First, Manning is optimistic and has every intention of playing next season. You know, kind of like he was optimistic and expected to play last season. Second, there’s that grainy video of him throwing. If you look really hard I’m told you can also see the Loch Ness monster in the background.

OK, I’m going on a bit here. Point is, the ratio of speculation to fact has been embarrassingly high. Rather, only one thing seems certain here: Denver fans can live without their erstwhile savior, Tim Tebow.

It was just two months ago that Tebow delivered the most thrilling win of the season, and arguably, the most memorable single play in the 52-year history of the Denver Broncos. That day, Jan. 8, began with another round of highly informed speculation. It was said that Tebow’s confidence was irreparably shattered and that Brady Quinn would likely come on in relief. It ended with the Broncos’ 29-23 sudden-death victory over the defending AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers. Tebow, making only the 11th start of his NFL career, read the defense expertly and hit Demaryius Thomas in stride for an 80-yard, game-ending touchdown.

I still count myself blessed — in the non-theological sense, to be sure — to have been there. It felt like a walk-off home run in the World Series — except it was a football game. I’d never seen anything like that. But I’ve never seen anything like this, either: the utter lack of sentiment from the same fans who demanded that the Broncos start Tebow.

The same billboard, at the corner of 58th Avenue and Grant Street, that urged coach John Fox to “PLAY TEBOW!!” now asks fans to “vote” for Tebow or Manning. Results of this less-than-scientific poll are due today. Still, whatever the results, one can’t help but be struck by the manner in which fans have accepted this development without complaint. Yesterday’s savior is yesterday’s news.

It’s not just Denver. Fans’ affections are fungible commodities. Would you take Manning at, say, 75 percent over Tebow’s expected improvement as a second-year starter? Yeah, probably.

But Tebow was supposed to be different. The Tebow story was based on faith, though not just the sectarian kind. He didn’t look like a quarterback. He didn’t play like a quarterback. But he won — taking a 1-4 team, leading it to the playoffs, and finishing 8-5 as a starter.

So much for that. It’s clear the Broncos have more faith in a guy coming back from, again, four neck surgeries in 19 months, than they do in Tebow’s continued prospects for improvement. You know the Broncos have declared themselves sellers and suitors, having entertained Manning for, all told, more than eight hours on Friday.

“The team is hopeful and encouraged by the time spent,” a Broncos source told the Denver Post.

It’s rational. Team president John Elway is a Hall of a Hall of Fame quarterback who believes in Hall of Fame quarterbacks.

More difficult to comprehend are the fans. They, too, seem rational, though in a disquieting way. Tebow might as well be another player on their fantasy rosters. And it makes me wonder, should they still be called fans? Or ye of little faith?

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