When Broncos front office boss John Elway said last month that he was no closer to finding his franchise quarterback than he was before Tim Tebow started his winning ways, Broncos fans were appalled. Since then, Elway has tried to walk back his statement.
But Elway still isn’t going to declare Tebow the Broncos’ starter beyond this season: Asked on 102.3 The Ticket in Denver for his thoughts on Tebow’s future, Elway declined to answer.
“I know everybody wants to know, but our future’s right now,” Elway said, via SportsRadioInterviews.com. “When you look at where we are, the future is the Chicago Bears. We’ve got three out of our last four at home. We’re coming off five of six wins. So, we’re excited to come home. I think the city’s excited about it, the fans are excited about where we are right now. The future is now and I think the key thing is for us to continue to keep focused on each game coming up and try to win this division and get in the playoffs and see what happens.”
If Elway were confident in Tebow as the Broncos’ starter in 2012, he’d say so. That he won’t say so suggests that he simply isn’t a believer in Tebow.
What also suggests he isn’t a believer in Tebow is the way Elway looks during Broncos games. The TV cameras have caught Elway several times during Tebow’s game-winning drives, and Elway never appears as ecstatic as you’d expect a team president to be when his young quarterback is leading his team to victory. That strongly suggests that Elway -- who inherited Tebow when he took the job -- isn’t crazy about the way Tebow is making Broncos fans fall in love with him. Because Elway likely wants a quarterback of his own, and the more games the Broncos win with Tebow, the harder it will be for Elway to justify finding a quarterback of his own.
UPDATE 9:03 a.m. ET: The future of Tebow was one of the topics discussed by Florio and Ross Tucker on NBC SportsTalk last night.