NFL Preseason: Tim Tebow versus the Bengals is more important than the Arena Bowl

This was Tim Tebow's haircut the last time he was in
Cincinnati for a preseason game. 

Tim Tebow is the gift that keeps on giving for Cincinnati Bengals fans.

Way back on January 1, on the final week of the NFL regular season, Tebow purposely played a horrible game against Kansas City (6/22, 60 yards, 1 INT) in a 7-3 Broncos loss. The Denver loss propelled the Bengals into the playoffs. Tebow could have used some of his Tebow magic to beat Kansas City, but instead he threw an interception on the Broncos final offensive play of the game, sealing the win for the Chiefs. Praise Tebow. Had the Broncos won, Tennessee would have been in the postseason and the Bengals would have stayed home.

One week later, Bengals fans were depressed after their playoff loss to Houston -- which is weird because you'd think we Bengals fans would be used to playoff losses by now. Anyway, as any Bengals fan knows, the only way Wild Card weekend was going to be salvaged was if the Steelers lost to the Broncos. Cue Tebow. Tebow's 80-yard touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas on the first play of overtime sent the Broncos to the Divisional round and sent the Steelers home. Praise Tebow.



Now, Bengals fans have another reason to thank Tebow and here's why: the Bengals Aug. 10 preseason opener against the New York Jets is now going to be nationally televised. The NFL Network decided to bump Arena Bowl XXV in favor of Tebow vs. the Bengals. And yes, you read that right, an NFL PRESEASON game is being shown instead of the Arena Bowl, which is the Super Bowl of arena football. We're guessing that had more to do with Tebow than it did with the Bengals. Either way, Cincinnati fans that don't live in Cincinnati can now watch the game.

Oh and if you care about the Arena Bowl, it was set to kickoff at 7 p.m. ET on Aug. 10, the AFL has now moved the game to 10:30 p.m. ET from New Orleans.

You're probably thinking right now, "I didn't know Tebow was so awesome, well I did, but I didn't know he was Bengals awesome."

We would tell you to go to NFLshop.com and get a TEBOW Bengals jersey made, but unfortunately, NFLshop won't allow it (trust us, we tried 112 times). However, there is an equally appealing alternative: you can get a Bengals jersey that says JESUS on the back, which is almost the same thing as TEBOW.