Imagine for a second that you're John Elway. You're in charge of building the Denver Broncos into a championship contender, and Tim Tebow is currently your quarterback. You like and admire Tebow, but you have doubts about whether or not he'll develop into a legitimate passer, and if he can't, that the Tebow run-option offense will work forever.
Still in Elway's shoes, imagine what's going to happen to you if you have Tim Tebow on the bench to start the 2012 season. You'll spend the next six months scraping eggs off of every car on the lot at John Elway Chevrolet.
That is, unless, there's some kind of mega-star quarterback available. Someone who's mentioned in every conversation about the best quarterbacks to ever play the game. Someone against whom even the most devout Tebowite couldn't argue.
And hey, look at that ‒ there happens to be such a quarterback available.
There's no shortage of reports indicating that the Broncos are interested in Manning. Here are four of them.
If you're one of the people who believe that Tim Tebow is not the long-term answer at quarterback, you can make a pretty good argument that Denver needs Peyton Manning worse than anyone else does. The Broncos are going to sign someone. If it's not Manning, maybe it's Alex Smith or Jason Campbell. Maybe Donovan McNabb. Maybe they bring Kyle Orton back.
Imagine the revolt if someone from that group starts over Tebow. Not just from the fans, but from the locker room, too. Denver's season will be over before it starts. There is exactly one quarterback out there who gives the Broncos an upgrade at quarterback and squashes a Tebow-crazed revolt. Peyton Manning.
It might also be the best possible thing that can happen to Tebow. If you need to learn better throwing mechanics and the mental side of being a quarterback in the NFL, who better to observe than Peyton Manning? He's the prototype. If reading defenses was reading books, then Peyton Manning would be this lady, and Tim Tebow would be Dexter Manley.
Maybe It'll happen. Maybe it won't. It might be a good idea for the people of Denver to start wrapping their heads around the idea, though.