Has the clock run out for Tebow?

By Sports Editor Jay Ahuja

The Chicago Bears started the season off winning. The Chicago Bulls are less than 20 days before the season tip-off, and great things are expected from them with Derrick Rose returning. But, with all this sports frenzy in the Chicago-land area, the top headline seems to be the controversy regarding NFL quarterback Tim Tebow.

Love him or hate him, Tebow’s name has been everywhere over the summer and into the fall. In the summer, Tebow was released by the New York Jets and picked up by the New England Patriots. Things were looking semi-good for him as the preseason started, especially when he played in three of the four games and threw for over 140 yards to go along with 91 yards rushing.

The former Heisman winner looked like he would barely grab a spot in the 53-man roster, but when cutting time came, he did not make it. Some people might have felt sorry for Tebow, but most football fans approved of the Patriots head coach Bill Belichick’s decision. These feelings towards Tebow go back to his days with the Denver Broncos, where he made some amazing plays but was looked at as a bad ‘passer’. It’s not as if he’s a bad quarterback, going 9-7 in the 16 games he has started in, but spectators argue that his arm isn’t NFL material. Tebow has thrown for over 2,400 yards and ran for 980 yards in his turbulent career, reaching the end-zone 29 total times as well.

The thing that most Tebow-haters look at is his inconsistency to throw the ball or much less stay with a team. Tebow was drafted by the Denver Bronco’s in 2010. He played OK in his rookie year, but his big break came in his second year with Denver, when he threw the game-winning touchdown, in overtime, against the Pittsburg Steelers during the first game of the play-offs. This was a defining moment in his career, and for a few days, the Tebow-doubts were temporarily dissolved. Then, in the next game against the New England Patriots, things took a turn for the worst. Tebow could not make any plays throughout the game, and Denver lost, 45-10.

A lot could be said about Tebow. Some say that he isn’t the kind of player to take charge and lead a team to success. Others say that while some leaderships qualities do not come naturally to him, he will do what it takes to get the win. He will win on the ground or through the air. Belichick agrees with the latter, according to Bleacher Report.

“My sense of Tim Tebow is, if you asked him to play nose, he’d play nose (tackle). I think he’s that kind of kid. Whatever you ask him to do, he’d do,” Belichick said in 2010. ”I don’t know what a team would do with him, but I think he’s a real interesting player. He’s had a great career. It speaks for itself. Second leading passer in SEC history, whatever it is. He’s had tremendous production.”

The NCAA may not be similar to the NFL, and maybe that Heisman and those two NCAA championships don’t correlate to success in the NFL. Although, one thing is for certain. Tebow loves football, and he loves to win. Even with a not-so-great arm, he will have a shot to redeem himself on the big stage.