Denver Broncos 2011 regular season Review: It's Tebow! time - NFL Special Part IV
Continued from Part III
At San Diego
Denver Broncos arrived in San Diego looking to avenge their earlier defeat at home.
They did just that thanks to kicker Matt Prater’s wonderful leg, a bit of luck and a lot of sideline praying from quarterback Tim Tebow as the Broncos won 16-13 in overtime to continue their amazing run of victories.
San Diego took a 10-0 lead in the second quarter as Philip Rivers connected with Antonio Gates from 6-yards for a touchdown.
Denver retaliated with Tebow throwing an 18-yard touchdown pass to Eric Decker with just a minute left in the period to bring the score to 10-7.
Both teams scored a field goal each in the third period with the Chargers taking a 13-10 lead into the final 15 minutes of the game.
Tebow led Denver up the field late in the final minute and setup a field goal for kicker Matt Prater from 24-yards to send the game to overtime.
However, it was the Chargers who got first possession and Philip Rivers setup kicker Nick Novak for a 53-yard field goal.
Tebow started to pray as Novak lined up the kick.
Luck though was on the Broncos side as Novak’s kick missed the uprights and it was game on once again.
"I might have said that. Or maybe a block. Maybe all of it," the Denver quarterback said with a laugh.
Tebow drove the Broncos forward and lined up a 37-yard field goal for Prater whose kick was good as Denver won 16-13.
At Minnesota
Tim Tebow’s never say die attitude and kicker Matt Prater’s brilliant leg led the Broncos to their fifth straight win in a row as they won 35-32 over Minnesota Vikings with a brilliant performance.
The game was anyone’s for the taking entering into the final quarter at 22-21 with the Vikings having just a single-point lead.
Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder’s 48-yard touchdown pass to receiver Percy Harvin at 9:41 increased Minnesota’s lead to 29-21.
It just took seconds for Tebow to respond for Denver as he connected with Willis McGahee for a 24-yard touchdown and the rookie rushed for a two-point conversion to tie the score at 29-29.
Ryan Longwell’s 39-yard field goal made it 32-29 with three minutes left but the Broncos never gave up as Matt Prater’s two field goals setup another big win.
Against Chicago
A struggling Chicago Bears side visited the Broncos looking to restart their playoff campaign and for most of the game it seemed that this was going to be Chicago’s night.
However, Tim Tebow had by now become a master of late comebacks and in a series of crazy events Chicago was defeated by a 13-10 margin.
The Bears led 10-0 in the final quarter and with the Broncos being frustrated for most of the time it seemed victory was on the cards but fate had something else planned that night.
Tim Tebow hit Demaryius Thomas with a 10-yard touchdown pass at the two minute mark to make it 10-7.
The possession was back with Chicago but a costly mistake from Marion Barber with just seconds of play left gave possession back to Denver and it was Tebow time.
The quarterback led his team forward setting up Matt Prater for a 59-yard field goal, Prater delivered as expected and the game went to overtime at 10-10.
It wasn’t easy still for Denver whose chances looked slim after Chicago took first possession in overtime.
Barber though would once again come to Denver’s rescue turning over the ball at Denver’s 34 yard line and Tebow led the team once more into field goal range.
Prater delivered once more with another 50-yard plus field goal to secure an improbable victory sending Denver to the top spot in the American Football Conference (AFC) West division.
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