Tim Tebow's 2011 Denver Broncos: The Most Incredible Team Season in NFL History | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

There have been plenty of remarkable team stories in NFL history. 

In recent years, the 1999 worst-to-first St. Louis Rams and the 2000 Ravens—who won the Super Bowl in their first playoff appearance ever—have been two of the Cinderella champions.

Along the same lines, a handful of wild-card teams—Pittsburgh in 2005, the Giants in 2007 and last year's Packers (who simply got hot at the right time and burned through the playoffs despite not having a single home game) were also unforgettable cases.

Then there are the truly dominant teams who, from Week 1 through the Super Bowl, overpowered virtually every opponent they played: the 1972 undefeated Dolphins, the 1978 Steelers, the 1984 San Francisco 49ers and a few other elite teams.

And how about the miracle teams like the 1980 Cleveland "Kardiac Kids" Browns or the 1992 Buffalo Bills, who overcame countless injuries as well as a 32-point playoff deficit to reach Super Bowl XXVII.

But after watching the late wild-card game today at Invesco Field, they all take a back seat to Tim Tebow’s Denver Broncos.

In no way am I saying that the Broncos are “better” than any of those other clubs. Far from it. After all, this is a team that backed into the playoffs with three straight losses, finished with a .500 record and—let’s be honest—really only made the postseason because of the Raiders' ineptitude.

But in terms of pure wonder, improbability and excitement, no team can compare to the 2011 Denver Broncos.

Certainly part of that is the quick turnaround: they had the NFL’s second worst record a year ago and are now one step away from the AFC Championship Game. But that feat has been done before; the 1999 Rams went from 3-13 to 13-3 and won the Super Bowl. Two years later, Tom Brady’s Patriots pulled off a similar unbelievable turnaround. The 2008 Dolphins even went from 1-15 to the winners of the AFC East in the span of a single season.

The presence of a new head coach—who was significantly hampered by the lockout—is another reason. But John Fox isn’t the only man to excel in his first year on the job. Don McCafferty led the Colts to a win in Super Bowl V as a rookie head coach. George Seifert did the same in 1989. And, like John Fox, fellow Broncos head coach Red Miller took Denver to the Super Bowl in 1977.

Denver’s crazy, up-and-down, almost schizophrenic play—a terrible start, then a tremendous stretch that pushed them into contention, followed by a horrific finish towards the end—only makes them a more incredible story. But that’s not terribly unheard of either. Remember when the eventual Super Bowl Champion Ravens went a month without scoring a touchdown? Or the 1988 49ers, who lost back-to-back games to fall to 6-5, then cruised to a legendary triumph in Super Bowl XXIII?

Obviously, stories of redemption and impossibility are nothing new to the NFL playoffs. What makes the Broncos stand out is Tebow.

For one, he was a punchline—and a lightning rod for debate—last year and into the preseason. More importantly, back in training camp he was also a third-string quarterback, behind Kyle Orton and Brady Quinn. 

That simple fact is special, but again, not terribly unique. Doug Williams, Kurt Warner and Tom Brady came from out of nowhere to lead their teams to a Super Bowl title. A recently unretired Randall Cunnningham nearly took the Vikings to the Super Bowl in 1998. Doug Flutie was a 5’10” 36-year-old CFL star when he joined the Bills in 1998 and led them to a playoff berth.

No, it’s because of all of Tebow’s alleged inadequacies—this particular season—that make him and the Broncos' entire season so wacky that Disney would laugh out of the room any screenwriter who brought them this script.

More so than any year in history, quarterbacks have shone in 2011. Ten quarterbacks threw for over 4,000 yards. Three threw for over 5,000 yards. Drew Brees and Tom Brady (who combined for over 10,600 yards passing and 84 touchdowns) figure to be a distant second and third to Aaron Rodgers for the MVP.

Two rookie quarterbacks (Andy Dalton, T.J. Yates) led their team to the playoffs and neither will come even close to winning the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award because of Cam Newton. Everyone says that a franchise quarterback is essential to succeeding. Apparently gone are the days when Trent Dilfer or Brad Johnson would lead a team to the Lombardi Trophy.

Yet Tebow, who former NFL Defensive Player of the Year Brian Urlacher essentially said is a running back and not a quarterback, engineered tremendous second-half comeback wins in Miami, Oakland, Minnesota, San Diego and Chicago, as well as home victories over the Jets and Pittsburgh in the wild-card game.

The most recent win was the clincher. The Steelers had the NFL’s top rated defense, top rated pass defense and top rated scoring defense. But Tebow torched them for a handful of deep balls, including the game-winner in overtime. Now certainly it was a team effort and Tebow will be the first to say that. But a huge part of the battle in the NFL is confidence. Tebow has it and so do all of his teammates.

I don’t know if Tebow and the Broncos will win next Saturday night in New England. No one does. And even if they do, the odds of defeating the Ravens/Texans winner, then whichever NFC team makes it to Indy are almost infinitesimal.

Then again, ever since he joined the NFL, the odds have supposedly been all against Tebow.