Tim Tebow making Jesus more popular?
Yesterday, we noted that Tim Tebow's rib injury during the Patriots game was similar to one sustained by Jesus during the crucifixion.
A bit of a stretch? Maybe -- but no more of one than a new claim that the Chosen One's popularity is rubbing off on a certain savior.
So say folks at Business Insider, who've just published a piece entitled "Jesus is Now More Popular Thanks to Tim Tebow."
As evidence, they offer the following chart tracking Google search volume since the NFL lockout ended in July:
Author Cork Gaines's interpretation: "As Tebow's popularity has increased, so has that of Jesus. And everytime we see a peak in Tebow's popularity, we also see a peak in the popularity of Jesus. In fact, since the onset of Tebowmania, the popularity of searches for Jesus on Google have increased by approximately 50 percent."![]()
Courtesy of Business Insider
To test this theory, we did our own Google trends search over the past twelve months -- and the charts we wound up with aren't exactly mirror images of each other. Here's the one for Tebow....
...and here's the Jesus chart.![]()
However, we at Westword have certainly done our bit to make the Business Insider hypothesis come true -- by featuring a record-setting number of Tebow-related Bible verses.![]()
If that doesn't get us into heaven, nothing will.
Follow and like the Michael Roberts/Westword Facebook page.
More from our Sports archive: "Ten Bible passages to heal you after loss by Tim Tebow and Broncos."

































