Mile High Miracle

Tebow has the Broncos one win away for the
AFC Championship game.

The magic is back.

Led by the best game in quarterback Tim Tebow's career, the Denver Broncos outlasted the defending AFC Champion Pittsburgh Steelers in a thrilling overtime matchup to wrap up Wild Card weekend in dramatic fashion.

After Denver scored 20-second quarter points and taking a 20-6 to lead into the locker room at the half, the Steelers responded like true champions do, scoring 10 points in the final ten minutes of regulation and knotted the game at 23 points apiece. The Pittsburgh defense forced only the fourth Bronco punt of the game, giving Ben Roethlisberger and Co. one last chance to seal an improbable comeback victory.

However, just when it look as if the Steelers offense was in position to kick a game-winning field goal and end Tebow's magical run, Denver defensive Elvis Dumervil got his hand on the football, forcing the two-time Super Bowl champion quarterback to fumble and take them out of field goal range.

On the drive, Roethlisberger was sacked three times by the Denver defense, giving running back Willis McGahee, whose fourth quarter fumble led to the game-tying TD for Pittsburgh, a chance at redemption.

In the first non-sudden death overtime in NFL postseason history, McGahee wouldn't get that chance, letting Tebow and wideout Demaryius Thomas take care of the rest.

After winning the coin toss and electing to receive, the Bronco offense would take the field for the final time at Sports Authority Field this season. On the first play of extra period and for only the second time in the game, Tebow threw on first down, completing the pass to Thomas, who ran 80 yards to the end zone, sending everyone, including Hall of Famer John Elway, in Mile High into a frenzy.

Tebow "pulled the trigger" alright.

The play took 11 seconds, which marked the shortest overtime period in NFL history, regular season or postseason. Not to mention the fact it was also the longest TD pass in overtime history.

The 80-yard TD pass from Tebow was the longest of his young career and tied him with Elway for the longest TD pass in Bronco postseason history. Elway accomplished that feat twice in his career, each of them coming in a different decade.

Thomas finished the game with 4 catches for 204 yards and a TD. Dick LaBeau's defense hadn't allowed a 100-yard receiver all season long. Thomas totaled that many yards in the second quarter alone.

In now seven games this season, Tebow has throw and rushed for a TD. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Tebow is only the third quarterback in the Super Bowl era to throw for 300-plus yards without throwing an interception and record a rushing TD in a postseason game.

Completing only 10 passes, Tebow is the first quarterback in the Super Bowl era to throw for 300 or more yards while completing that many passes or fewer in the playoffs.

Tebow also becomes the third quarterback in postseason history to score a rushing TD against the  storied and vaunted Steeler defense. The other two are Ken Stabler and the late Steve McNair.

Tebow averaged 31.6 yards a completion and completed three passes of 50 yards or more. Since the 1970 AFL-NFL Merger, he becomes the first quarterback in postseason history to do so. Not only was Tebow's 316 passing yards a season-high, but a career-high, breaking one of Elway's franchise records, the most passing yards (123) in a playoff debut in franchise history.

Elway set that record in 1983 when his team lost 31-7 at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks. However, in 1984, Elway's first postseason start, he lost to Pittsburgh, unlike Tebow.

Since the start of the quarterback rating era, beginning in 2008, the second-year quarterback's QBR of 97.3 on Sunday is the highest total in a playoff game, narrowly edging Aaron Rodgers' 97.2. A mark he set just a year ago in Green Bay's 48-21 win over the Atlanta Falcons.

Thomas stiff arming Pittsburgh's Ike Taylor

on his 80-yard overtime TD reception.

It truly has been a magical run for this unselfish Denver team.

They are only the fifth team in NFL history to make the postseason after a 2-5 start. The Broncos are also only one of eight teams since the merger to reach the postseason after losing their final three games of the regular season, but now head to East in a rematch with the always dangerous New England Patriots.

New England is responsible for ending Denver's six-game winning streak this season when they visited Mile High in Week 15. There Tom Brady and Co. torched the Bronco secondary, 41-23.

In their franchise history, the Patriots hold an 11-3 record at home in the postseason, but two of those three loses have come in Foxborough the last two years. Former Bronco head coach Josh McDaniels, who was recently rehired by the Patriots to fill the offensive coordinator position that will be vacated by Bill O'Brien at season's end, is responsible for drafting both Tebow and Thomas.

In the NFL, Tebow, who is known as a devout Christian, he is unable to display his usual John 3:16 on his eye black, something he did often at Florida, but still finds away to spread the word. Oddly enough his passing yardage for the game totaled 316 and his yards per completion at 31.6.

Also worth noting, the four officials on the field in Denver Sunday bare the first names, John, Luke, Matthew and Mark, all names in the Bible. Coincidence? Maybe.

But if you're not a believer, you better start. God Bless.