Tim Tebow gets praise, but Matt Prater brings it home for the Broncos

Tim Tebow might be engineering all these comebacks for the Denver Broncos. It's Matt Prater who's sealing them.

Prater always considered himself an icy veined kicker whose heartbeat stayed steady despite the rising pressure he was under. This year, he's finally getting the chance to prove it — over and over.

Prater's 51-yarder in overtime that sent the Broncos past the stunned Chicago Bears 13-10 on Sunday was his third straight walk-off field goal. It followed his 59-yarder that tied it with three seconds left in the fourth quarter.

He and Indianapolis' Mike Vanderjagt are the only kickers in NFL history to have a 50-yard-plus kick to tie a game and then one to win it in overtime. Vanderjagt did it on Nov. 24, 2002, against Denver.

"Those were fabulous clutch kicks, both of them," coach John Fox said Monday. "He's done it lately. He was in a little bit of a slump about a month ago and he worked himself out of it. We have great confidence in him really from any range."

But especially from 50-plus, where he's 12 of 16 in his career.

Prater's teammates knew they had this one in the bag when Prater jogged onto the field in overtime — they'd watched him boom 70-yarders during warm-ups, so 51 yards was a chip shot.

"That's amazing," linebacker Wesley Woodyard said. "Prater does a lot of good things for us. And I believe in him and I think that he's finally believing in himself."

Prater's right toe is a big reason the Broncos are 7-1 since Tebow took over at quarterback, transforming the Broncos from a 1-4 eyesore into the AFC West leaders at 8-5 as they chase their first playoff berth since 2005.

Prater has kicked the game-winning field goal on the last play of regulation or in overtime four times during this stretch. That's one shy of the NFL single-season record set by his predecessor, Jason Elam, in 2007.

"This has been probably the most fun I've ever had playing football," Prater said. "Where in the past you kind of feel like you're just going to your job, now it's back to high school football, where you're playing with all your friends and you've got their backs and all that stuff."

While the Broncos players and coaches are big believers in Tebow's ability to pull out wins in crunch time with six second-half comebacks in the last two months, they feel equally confident about Prater under pressure.

When they reached the Bears' 40-yard line in overtime, they played it safe, setting him up for a 51-yarder, which is right in his comfort zone. He's nailed 3 of 4 from that distance this year.

"There's no doubt his leg strength is a weapon, in particular here at home with the altitude," Fox said.

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