KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tim Tebow doesn’t belong as an NFL quarterback, right?

The 2007 Heisman Trophy winner out of Florida isn’t a prototypical drop-back passer, right?

The Denver Broncos can’t win with Tebow completing only 2 of 8 passes for 69 yards, right?

For the third time in four starts this season, Tebow found a way to lead the Broncos to victory — this time a 17-10 triumph over the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday afternoon at Arrowhead Stadium.

“I’m a football player first before a quarterback, and whatever we can do to win games,” Tebow said of the Broncos’ evolving option-style run game. “I just think it’s one more thing for teams to prepare for, and we went in and did it a lot today.

“It’s something you have to scheme for, you have to prepare for and you have to be sound.”

After not throwing a single pass in the first quarter — and not completing a pass until the fourth quarter — the difference was Tebow’s 56-yard touchdown pass to a streaking wide receiver Eric Decker on a go route with 6:44 remaining for a 17-7 lead.

“He threw a great ball and it was right in the bread basket,” Decker said.

Even with a limited passing game, a heavy dose of the Broncos’ run game kept the Chiefs off-balance.

“I think every game is different,” Tebow said, “and probably it will continue that way. When you have a team, you can handle the way things are going and hopefully, we’ll be able to consistently throw and be consistent doing that.

“But we’ve got something going good right now and we’ve got to stick with it and continue to get better.”

On a day where Broncos running backs Willis McGahee and Knowshon Moreno were lost to leg injuries, Lance Ball stepped up with 96 yards in 30 carries and Tebow added 43 yards in nine carries for the NFL’s 10th-best rushing team, which finished with 244 yards.

Denver pulls into a three-way tie for second with Kansas City and San Diego in the AFC West at 4-5. Oakland sits alone in first place at 5-4.