One quarter of the way through the season and the Denver Broncos are 1-3 under head coach John Fox and quarterback Kyle Orton. If John Fox has his way (there's no reason he won't have it for the rest of the season), he is going to live and die by Kyle Orton for the remainder of the year.
During his Monday presser, Fox told reporters:
"There are no what-ifs at this point. Kyle Orton is our starting quarterback."
And then he followed that a bit later with:
"You do (care what fans think) but in the decision-making process, you have to evaluate what you see."
While fans chant and put up billboards for Tim Tebow to take over for Kyle Orton, Fox continues to reiterate that he isn't going to let that get to him. There's something he sees on film that we might not get while watch the manufactured views of TV camera operators.
And Orton hasn't lost the support the locker room, either. As one teammate recently said:
"Kyle's our guy. That's who we're rolling with," running back Willis McGahee said Monday. "Whoever doesn't like it, it is what it is. He's leading the Denver Broncos. He's running the show. So, I mean, I think everybody just needs to get over it."
Most of the cheerleading for Orton's ouster is a bit misguided. John Fox might be wrong in saying Orton gives the team the best chance at winning, but the team's issues do run much deeper than Orton's play. Orton isn't the cause of his teammates fumbling or the defense leaving opponents wide open. He most certainly is part of the problem, but starting Tim Tebow isn't necessarily a palliative. The team could certainly do better with him or it could just be more of the same. But if Tebow did start for most of the remaining schedule, we'd at least know what Tebow is capable of doing.
And in times of great decisions, the conservative coach in John Fox sticks with his plan.
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