By any standard, 2011 was an unusual season in the NFL. The Giants upset the Patriots in the Super Bowl again. The concussion crisis was starting to heat up, with rule changes made for player safety and to prevent the growing public backlash. The Lions had their best team in over a decade, even making the cover of Sports Illustrated in early October.
Meanwhile, all of those stories took a backseat to the short-lived phenomenon of Tim Tebow. Before he became a minor league baseball player, Tebow’s polarizing presence and inexplicable endgame heroics basically high-jacked the 2011 NFL season.