Done deal:Denver Broncos complete Pittsburgh Steelers deal…

What Fox called “unique” occurred on January 8, 2012, the last time the Pittsburgh Steelers traveled to Denver for a postseason game. On that day, Tim Tebow had the best game of his NFL career and the Broncos prevailed in Tebow’s second-to-last start.

After Tebow struggled in a more traditional set, the Broncos had moved to a read-option offense. They were 8-8 going into the playoffs, but they won 29-23 in overtime after Tebow’s first play from scrimmage, a 15-yard slant to Demaryius Thomas, turned into an 80-yard catch-and-run touchdown.

Playing against the Steelers, who had finished first in both scoring defense and total defense, the 11-second play brought an end to the shortest overtime period in NFL history. Due to Denver’s altitude, Ryan Clark, the top tackler for the Steelers, was unable to participate in the game. Clark suffers from sickle-cell trait, which gets worse at altitude.

With ten completions, Tebow finished with a career-high 316 passing yards. Thomas caught four passes for 204 yards in receiving. Throughout the game, Tebow completed four passes for at least forty yards.

In that game, we had a lot of big plays, according to Thomas. It was one of those games where we made some huge plays and found some openings. Running it in to close the game was an amazing feeling. At the time, I wasn’t sure about the overtime regulations, but it was still an amazing feeling to see the crowd.

The victory occurred right before the Broncos made the decision to drastically alter the direction of the team. A week later, Tebow had a terrible time against the New England Patriots in the AFC divisional round. He completed 9 out of 26 passes for 136 yards and had five sacks.

After a few weeks, Peyton Manning was signed by the Broncos as a free agent. John Elway, general manager and executive vice president of football operations for the Broncos, stated, “Plan B? We will proceed with Plan A; I have no backup plan.”

Tebow was traded to the Jets not long after Manning was introduced following his $96 million contract signing. In addition to the division championship the team won with Tebow, the team has won four straight AFC West titles since Manning signed on.