Mike Ditka Gone Wild!

Over the past 5 weeks the Broncos have been on a winning streak and Tim Tebow’s critics have been forced to amend their comments.

The Broncos beat the Oakland Raiders and the critics simply shook their heads and gave a “tisk tisk tisk” response to supporters. “Ooooh, Oakland…

The Broncos beat the Kansas City Chiefs and the critics said, “Tebow was 2-8 in passing attempts. He is a joke!”

The Broncos beat the New York Jets and critics said, “The Broncos have a great run game and a great defense. Tebow just got lucky.”

The Broncos beat the division rival San Diego Chargers in overtime and the critics said, How far the Chargers have fallen? They need to fire Norv Turner! Tebow is lucky he has Von Miller to bail him out!”

The Broncos beat the Minnesota Vikings and critics said, “Anyone can throw on Minnesota’s defense! Luck is going to run out for Tebow sooner or later.”

I have heard critics give credit to the defense, the special teams, the offensive line, the running backs, the coaches, god, budda, Rick Springfield and even John Elway, but no matter how much better the Broncos are with Tebow at the helm the critics remain steadfast in their opinions: Tebow is not an NFL caliber quarterback.
They will call him “a winner” or “a tremendous person” or “a terrific leader” or “a tireless worker” or “a great story” but will NEVER call him “a good quarterback.” Which is pretty odd, because if you ask anyone, “which of the above characterizations are important to have in a good quarterback?” they will give you a dirty look for asking them a rhetorical question.

One of Tebow’s biggest critics has been Merril Hoge. He works as a commentator for the NFL Network and has quickly become some sort of watered down James Carville for conversations about Tim Tebow. If Tebow helped win a game or did something positive, it’s time to trot out Hoge and see what he has to say about it.

With Tebow facing the Bears today and the Broncos three point favorites, it was time to see what ol’ Merril has to say about the Broncos.

I was fortunate to be sitting in front of a TV with playback (thank god for DVR!) when the following exchange took place on the Sunday morning pregame show (See video below: “Merril Hoge is a Proud Idiot”).

Merril finds himself sitting across from Bill Parcells and discussing the Broncos success. Merril starts by saying that he really does like Tebow, but just doesn’t like Tebow’s passing flaws. He shows some gametape of the Broncos offensive line blocking well, and said that their performance has been “mind boggling.”

He is correct that the offensive line is good but their performance isn’t inexplicable. Left tackle Ryan Clady is a Pro Bowler. Left guard Zane Beadles was a second round pick and considered a top prospect two years ago. While I don’t know much about JD Walton, I can verify that Chris Kruper and Orlando Franklin makeup one of the nastier right sides in the league. This is a good group of players who have been mostly healthy and have gotten the opportunity to work with headcoach John Fox, who boasts a roster of coaches that always manage to get the most out of their o-line.

Well, apparently I wasn’t the only person unsatisfied with Hoge’s analysis, because out of nowhere Hall of Famer Mike Ditka jumps into the conversation. He was in another studio elsewhere and decided that he has something to say to Merril. As soon as Ditka started in on Hoge I started howling in laughter, only to immediately have to stop to lunge for the remote control. After hitting the record button, I paused and re-winded to the beginning. It took six attempts to watch this without laughing too hard to hear what was actually said. The exchange is really indescribable and I recommend watching it twice. The first time, just watch it like you would watch anything, but the second time through just watch Merril. He keeps making faces like he is a jock in an 80’s movie when the main character just gave him a snappy comeback. That kinda, “haha very funny…der…work brain, work!...oh yeah…well…you, you’re a…whatever…” reaction.

What’s mind boggling to me is that Ditka would take a shot at a fellow commentator like this. They work for the same company and should complement each other’s work. Instead, Ditka attacked Hoge, made him look like a short-sighted boob on national television, and made the entire company look lame. Perhaps it’s Ditka trying to make a statement. Maybe he was just sick of the NFL Network wasting their time with Hoge’s silly analysis. Ditka didn’t do himself any favors acting like a crazy old man, but at least he was right. And it was interesting. And he earned himself another fan.