Jock Itch A Broncos fan’s winter of content

So it’s over. Like a May to December romance, or a September to January Bromance, the Broncos season reached its zenith and faded out like the dying light of the afternoon sunshine. I wrote later in the year about the greatest loss in Broncos history and now I think we’ve just seen the greatest season in Broncos history, even though it’s one that ended nowhere close to a Super Bowl victory.

I’m sure there are truly positive, life-changing events, like getting married or having a kid, that you’ll remember with a glorious warmth that can’t be replicated in a lab. For a few weeks in the encroaching winter, that is how we felt about the Denver Broncos. No matter the end result, and no matter what the future holds for the team, fans soaked it in like a million suns.

I’m certainly being a little dramatic, but the season that went off the rails quickly, then was snatched from the fire and nearly lugged all the way up the mountain of NFL greatness, was pretty incredible—and emotionally draining. The mental hangover will endure far longer than the alcohol-induced one most woke up with the morning after the 45-10 annihilation the Broncos suffered at the hands of the Patriots. There were far too many highs and lows crammed into 18 weeks of football to expect fans of the team to not feel the effects long into the spring.

Relief will come this April in the form of the NFL draft, and we’ll start all over again with renewed hope for building on the success of this season. You have to consider that this season was a success: The team was not expected to make the playoffs, let alone the second round. They overachieved to the highest degree, miraculously soaring to great heights, before they were spectacularly smote back to the ground by Tom Brady and his deep blue eyes.

Speaking of dreamy QBs, the Broncos’ quarterback has quite possibly become the most polarizing athlete since Michael Vick. Despite the controversy, Tim Tebow showed us he can play in the NFL and should be considered the starter when training camp opens next summer, unless someone like Peyton Manning is brought in as a free agent. We all know that isn’t happening, though, so it’s Tebow’s job to lose and he probably has at least four games into next season to prove he should keep it. To anyone who supports the team, he’s a fiery competitor who filled a role for a fanbase in need of hero. The Broncos were just plain sad in recent times and Tebow gave them life for the first time in over five years. There are a lot of Tebow haters, but if you’re a Broncos fans, he should be your guy.

The road back to NFL glory doesn’t get any easier for the Broncos as next season’s schedule tightens up like a Willis McGahee hamstring. We’ll know all we need to about the team pretty early next year, but I don’t think what we’ve seen is a mirage and we could be looking at a perennial contending team in the making. Tebow, despite his many inconsistencies, has what it takes to win in the league, and the defense, which showed flashes of dominance, will only get better. We just need to hang in there until it all comes together. And if it doesn’t? We’ll always have the the 2011 season, to be known forever more as the winter of the Broncos fans’ content.