Peyton Manning, Tim Tebow, and the ESPN Mega Story

(I originally wrote this in April for the St. Bonaventure website: http://theintrepid.org/  but it was never posted. With all the attention on Jet's training camp, I felt this would be a good time to break the story out again.)

“You can’t win without a franchise quarterback”. “The NFL is a what have you done for me lately type of league”. These are two of the most commonly heard sayings when discussing the NFL and no team takes them more seriously than the Denver Broncos. With the acquisition of Peyton Manning they now have their fourth “franchise” quarterback in three years. But more surprisingly, they have their third full blown ESPN mega story in that same time.

            Although it now seems like ancient history, the Jay Cutler trade fiasco was only 3 years ago. Kyle Orton never quite caught on in Denver despite his consistent play and thus their next major controversy was born: Tebowmania.

            It seems unlikely that anyone will ever forget the chaos that ensued during the 2011 National Football League season. While it’s true that the Giants were the first sub-ten win team to win the Super Bowl and the passing records book was basically re-written; nothing was bigger than Tebowmania this season. This was perhaps due to the major debate over whether he’s a good quarterback or not, his outspoken and intense Christianity, and the ridiculous ways in which the Broncos were winning games. By week 15 the Broncos had improved from 1-4 to 8-5 under Tebow, winning six of those games by less than a touchdown in what sometimes seemed like impossible fashion. It became the joke that Tebow couldn’t throw in the first three quarters and in the 4^th quarter God was helping them win. Tebow and the Broncos were the lead on every Sports based show nearly every day and eventually Saturday Night Live even did a sketch where Jesus comes into the Broncos locker room and tells them they need to start winning games on their own. The media attention surrounding the team peaked the week leading up to the game against the Patriots. The Broncos magic finally ran out and they were beaten handily 41-23. The final two weeks of the season the hoopla died down some as Tebow turn in awful performances against both the Bills(4 turnovers) and the Chiefs(3 points total) as Denver fell to 8-8 and barely snuck into the playoffs. Tebowmania briefly made a comeback when Denver upset the Steelers in the wild card round of the playoffs. However it was once again crushed when the Broncos were routed 45-10 by the Patriots the next week. After a few days of nostalgia and video montages on ESPN, attention turned to the Super Bowl and then to the offseason and impending free agency.

            This is where Peyton Manning comes into the picture. After 13 productive seasons with the Indianapolis Colts, Manning underwent neck surgery in the offseason and missed all of 2011 as the Colts were an NFL worst 2-14. The Colts wanted to rebuild and felt that Manning, at age 36 with multiple neck surgeries in the last 3 years, wasn’t going to be a part of future plans. After a tearful goodbye Manning became a free agent. Yet again an ESPN mega story was born as analysts pondered where he might land.  According to the experts, it seemed that he was leaning a different way every day whether it was Miami, Arizona, San Francisco, or Seattle. However coming late to the Manning frenzy was the Denver Broncos.

            It became clear in the offseason that Denver was as confounded by their success as everyone else. General Manager John Elway never seemed totally sold on Tebow and many thought he sounded insincere when he called Tebow the “Quarterback of the future.” Back up Brady Quinn hinted that Broncos had gotten lucky in winning some of those games and not many teammates openly defended Tebow. Despite their success under Tebow, he had one of the lowest completion percentages (47) and Quarterback Ratings (72.9) in the NFL. Yet he couldn’t simply be benched or cut, he was a cultural icon, there was song remixes in his name and Jimmy Fallon even did a spoof of David Bowie’s classic “Space Oddity.” Elway and the Broncos knew that if they weren’t 100% sold on Tebow there was only going to be a few ways to replace him. It seems as though signing someone who is considered by many as the greatest quarterback in NFL history could be one of those ways. So despite the fact that Manning is 36 and has had four neck surgeries in the last three years; the Broncos signed him to a five year, 95 million dollar contract last week and the former first round pick was shipped off to New York for 4th and 6^th round picks. And just as quick as it took off, Tebowmania died in Denver as the team goes forward with their latest high profile quarterback.

            So is this the future of sports media? Are we destined to be bombarded by one story from all angles for a short period of time only to watch that story die shortly thereafter? It seems doubtful that Denver is going to ride off into the sunset with Manning at quarterback for an extended period of time. Even the greatest of all time will need to be replaced eventually and when that time comes, Denver will be on a hunt for their next QB and we’ll be treated to the latest ESPN mega story.