The Lunacy of "Tebowmania"

Let me begin by saying I consider myself a Christian. I attend church on Sundays, I pray everyday, I teach my daughter about God and Jesus and I try to live my life my life the way a Christian should.

If you’re wondering what this has to do with football, let me present Exhibit A: Tim Tebow.

The quarterback for the Denver Broncos, who is famous for writing Bible verses on his eye black and praising the Lord in his post game interviews, is a preachy young man who was raised by missionary parents and homschooled until high school.

After watching the Bears collapse on Sunday, I had written a comment on Facebook about how I couldn’t believe the Bears blew that one. Immediatley, I was bombarded with people commenting on how the Bears couldn’t stop divine intervention.

After several conversations and much thought, I have concluded the following about Tim Tebow:

1) He seems like a nice and genuine guy.

2) He is not a very good quarterback.

3) His fanbase has a cult following.

4) God has nothing to do with him winning football games.

Tebow truly does seem like a nice guy and I really cannot debate that. He is always willing to talk to the media and and does so patiently. He works in various charities. I have witnessed him yuk it up with opponents on the playing field.

However, if nice guys were always the most loved, wouldn’t we see a lot more Robbie Gould and Chris Zorich jerseys around town?

The quarterback position is unquestionably the most highlighted in team sports. This is probably why Tebow has a larger following, but from a football perspective, Tim Tebow is not very good. His numbers are mediocre, his release is laughable and he even fails the eye test. He doesn’t even look like an NFL quarterback. Through three quarters, his number were 3-for-17, 45 yards passing and 1 interception. The Bears went into a prevent defense which allowed Tebow to pass the ball ten yards from himself to the running back in an effort to kill the clock making his final numbers appear better than they are.

“Tebow-maniacs” point to his 7-1 record as a starter. Chicagoans are way too smart to know that a record as a starter is indicative of how good of a quarterback you are. Rex Grossman won 16 of his first 20 starts as a Bear and went to the Super Bowl.

Few would say that Grossman was a good quarterback. What about Trent Dilfer? He won more than 10 straight games and a Super Bowl as the signal caller for the Baltimore Ravens in 2000 and was let go by the team in that offseason.

The truth of the matter is football is not baseball. It is not really a numbers game and a winning record rarely proves that the quarterback is good because football is the ultimate team game.

Lastly, God had nothing to do with that football game in Denver, unless God is Marion Barber. Denver’s defense has been superb, and they have a phenomenal placekicker.

If you believe in God, do you think he cares about a game? More than five billion people in the world live in poverty and don’t have enough food. Anyone who thinks that God’s will is helping a below-average quarterback win games through his defense is strongly misguided on what Christianity actually is.