Tim Tebow has managed to pull it off.

He's the most underrated and overrated quarterback on the planet today.

First: I was wrong about Tebow.

Correction: It looks like I'm going to be wrong about Tebow. I absolutely wrote him off as a guy with no chance to be even a semi-successful NFL quarterback. Well, there's a long way to go, obviously, but a 7-1 record and 11-2 TD/INT ratio as a starter at least shows that something is there. Sure, he could be a 10-year starter, but I guess he could be running the option for the Montreal Alouettes in 2016. Who knows? But he's already done enough to give the mockers -- and I was sure one of 'em -- serious pause.

I'm fine with waving that flag, I really am. But this is where it gets tricky, biases start to creep in and I begin to wonder if ESPN is just playing a joke on all of us: There is a growing belief out there that Tebow somehow has the ability to will teammates to victory, that there are intangibles that he owns that others do not -- intangibles that only manifest when it matters most, of course, there must be some jar he stores them for the first 40 minutes or so -- and, most importantly, that He Just Knows How To Win.

And that's how we complete the journey to overrated.

Why is there this massive desire to make Tebow more than he is? He's a unique player and fascinating story in the league, can't that be enough? Does anyone really think that Marion Barber III ran out of bounds last week because Tim Tebow was the opposing quarterback? When Matt Prater lined up to attempt that 59-yard field goal, do you believe the fact that Tebow was his teammate led to that kick being successful? 

Tebow has played significantly better in the fourth quarter, every statistic will tell you that. Why? Could it be that the Broncos become less conservative offensively? Maybe. Could it be that eight games is a really small sample size to make any kind of real declaration? I think so. But, again, there are people who make a living talking about football (and once made millions of dollars coaching and playing it) who are trying to sell us on the idea that some sort of magical element enters the World of Tebow for the last 15 minutes of a game, or that he just knows how to perform in the clutch. All those struggles the first three quarters mean nothing, we're told, because Tebow can block everything out when pressure is highest. 

NFL players and coaches believe this stuff for the same reason that many members of the media believe it: Because they want to. It's hero worship and jock-sniffing at its worst (remember, at various times over the last 20 years we've been told to love Brett Favre, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, USC football and Lance Armstrong, among others. I'm not saying it's going to end badly for Tebow -- might be he's the real deal -- but I do wonder if we'll ever go in with our eyes open.) We can't look at Tebow's 48.5 completion percentage, his hideous play through the first three quarters, a hugely improved Broncos defense (they have allowed 13 points or less in four of last five games) and wonder, just wonder, if the quarterback position is still a weakness for this team. Nope, instead we get 5,288,888 cover versions of the ol' classic, "He's a Winner."

Am I to believe that if the Bears had scored 30 points, instead of 10, Tebow would've figured out a way to score 33? We all watched that Jets game, right? Tebow threw for 104 yards, completed 9-of-20 passes. Did the Broncos win that game (a 17-13 final) because Tebow put together a TD drive in the final minutes, or did the defense bail out a very shaky quarterback for 55 minutes? 

Maybe I'm simply a non-believer. That's the other Tebow angle that seems to have broken out: There is some kind of inexplicable outside force working for the Broncos, an intervention of some kind that's helping to convert 3rd-and-8's and making opposing running backs fumble in overtime. 

And this is where it gets -- if not offensive -- close to disingenuous. Look, a million athletes have tried to shove religion in our faces over the years. But Tebow strikes me as the first to bring it to us in an almost 3-D fashion, three inches away and completely unavoidable. Personally, it rubs me the wrong way. I have zero interest in a football player talking about his relationship with God, just as I have zero interest in a politician talking about his relationship with God or the guy in line at Dunkin' Donuts talking about his relationship with God. To me, it's private, and just because Tim Tebow has a large platform doesn't mean he needs to use it. Be a quarterback and let us figure out our own religious path. 

But the media has somehow tied in Tebow's Christianity with his winning, which strikes me as borderline lunacy. I don't know, but I'm sure there are plenty of deeply religious quarterbacks who have gone 4-12. I don't think God cares about NFL scores, the Golden Globes, the American Music Awards, the Byron Nelson Open or the season finale of "Khloe & Lamar." If God really cared about TV programming, Skip Bayless wouldn't be on ESPN.

Tim Tebow is in his infancy as an NFL quarterback, and it's unfair to pass any real judgment. 

He's not the best quarterback in the world and he's not the worst, that much we've established.

All the rest, for now, is just speculation. And I'm pretty sure there will be plenty of that.