5. 2011 Denver Broncos
Regular season: 8-8 | Playoffs: 1-1
It’s Tebow Time! Denver selected the Heisman Trophy winner from Florida in the first round of the 2010 draft, trading its second-, third-, and fourth-round picks to the Ravens to do so. And after a 1-4 start under Kyle Orton in 2011, the Broncos made the switch. Offensive coordinator Mike McCoy designed an easy, first-read offense Tebow could run, and Denver managed a 7-4 record with Tebow in charge, despite his 46.5% completion rate. Tebow made up for his regular-season inconsistency with a dynamite 80-yard touchdown pass to receiver Demaryius Thomas to win the wild-card game against the Steelers before the Patriots turned Tebow and the Broncos into a pumpkin with a 45-10 thumping in the divisional round. Tebow’s run was halted by the arrival of Peyton Manning, and his NFL career was unremarkable outside of the 2011 season, but there’s always that one magic year.