It’s often said that the backup quarterback is always the most popular player in town. It’s extremely unusual for the third string quarterback to serve that roll, but that seems to be exactly what’s happening in Denver.
Broncos starting quarterback Kyle Orton was booed by the home crowd in Denver, who then started chanting “Tebow! Tebow!” Tim Tebow was the third string quarterback for the game, behind both Orton and Brady Quinn.
Orton finished the game 24 of 46 for 304 yards, with 1 TD, 1 INT and a fumble. Orton also added a 13-yard run, while receiving only 25 yards in rushing support from the rest of the team. Except for the turnovers, it was a respectable performance, but not enough to quell the fans who think that Tim Tebow is the second coming of John Elway.
During the postgame press conference, head coach John Fox ignored a question about the Tebow chants, but he responded more directly on his quarterback plans on Tuesday.
“Kyle’s our starting quarterback,” Fox said. “I don’t think too many guys are firing their whole teams after one game because they happen to be in the half the teams in the league that lost in Week One.”
Asked about the chanting, Fox replied, “I couldn’t actually hear that. I thought our crowd was great. I thought it was electric.”
Fox is in an impossible situation. Orton has to play flawlessly and the team has to win, or to Broncos fans, Tebow will always be the great unknown, the pretty girl that got away. It is unlikely that the Broncos have improved enough from last year’s 4-12 squad to keep the fans happy.
Orton earned the job over Tebow with his play on the field, but the fans are banking on Tebow’s long term potential, which they believe in with blind passion. It seems only a matter of time before the Broncos will have to start focusing on the future, and who they think their long term quarterback is going to be.
