Can Tim Tebow Handle the Pressure?

Tim Tebow is still in the embryonic stages of his career. He's started under 20 games, and if you look at the numbers of past quarterbacks at this stage of their career, it actually tells us very little. He's better than some of the greats. He's worse than some of the flops.

Here are Tim Tebow's numbers. Here are John Elway's. Look at 2011 as Tebow's first season at the helm. The numbers are nothing spectacular, nothing terrible.

The simple fact is that there is no way to predict what heights Tim Tebow could reach. There are factors that will make it difficult for him. The fact that he did so well this year puts more pressure on him. Anytime anyone does something that causes America to put the word 'mania' behind their name, it brings pressure. 'Mania' brings out the haters and the critics and sets an almost impossible standard for the future. Only a championship is satisfying after the onset of any sports 'Mania'.

However, the only person whose attitude that matters is Tim Tebow. There will be plenty of criticisms, pot-shots, and digs, but if Tebow doesn't believe it, then it simply doesn't matter. I can't imagine what national pressure must be like, and I feel for any athlete who crumbles under it. The closest I may have ever felt to that is peer pressure in high school, and that felt pretty bad, so I can't fathom what it must be like to think the whole country is dogging you. But for it to matter, Tim Tebow must give fuel to that fire. He must believe that the critics are right. From what I've seen of this young man, I would be quite surprised if he got mixed up in his beliefs. I think he is mentally strong enough to handle the hoopla, so the only question that remains is; Does he actually have the ability to get it done?