I had a long drive with my brother-in-law last week and the topic of Tom Brady’s potential fourth Super Bowl championship came up. “Where does Brady fit in the “Mount Rushmore” of NFL quarterbacks”?
So, I stated to think. Who where the 10 best quarterbacks to win the Super Bowl? If I could pick one guy to lead my beloved Philadelphia Eagles to glory, who would it be?
(Insert Donavan McNabb joke here.)
Criteria
To be considered, the QB had to win a Super Bowl. So, all you Slingin’ Sammy Baugh fans can sit right down. And I know, Dan Marino didn’t win a Super Bowl so he’s out too. Great QB, you’ll get no argument from me. But this is my list and if you didn’t win one, then I’m not picking you to lead my mythical Eagles on their flight to victory.
A quarterback gets points if he’s the biggest reason his team wins the game (Joe Montana 3 MVPs +++) and loses points if they’re a game manager (Bob Griese — and Terry Bradshaw in his first two –)
I also don’t want this to be a pure accounting of Super Bowl rings. Terry Bradshaw has four but won’t be topping my list (see above). It’s also not a pure stat comparison. Trent Dilfer threw for three touchdowns in a single quarter for the Ravens in Super Bowl XXXVIII (35) and Doug Williams lead the Redskins to a rout of the Broncos in Super Bowl XXII (22).
Side Note: How good a coach was Joe Gibbs? Here’s the list of his Super Bowl winning quarterbacks: Theismann, Rypien and Williams. All three guys were far from top flight NFL signal callers. Theisman was a CFL reject and Williams was on his second tour after the USFL crashed and burned. Where have you gone Timmy Smith?
Number 1: Joe Montana – Could it be anyone else? Saint Joe won THREE MVPs in his four Super Bowls and Jerry Rice won the fourth. Hard to imagine Jerry getting that one without Joe pulling the trigger.
Montana did it all as a Super Bowl starter. He won a close game in his first Super Bowl against the Bengals, won on a last-minute drive in his second Super Bowl against the Bengals. Blew out the Broncos in another Super Bowl and won back-to-back Super Bowls. That’s what you call a complete resume
No. 2: Tom Brady - Brady has already started FIVE Super Bowls, equaling John Elway and will be the only man to start a sixth in a few weeks. He has almost everything I’m looking for on this list. Dude was someting like 15-0 in the PLAYOFFS during the early part of his career! He’s won close Super Bowls and back-to-back Super Bowls. He needs a blow out to complete the resume and he just might do that soon.
If Brady gets number four in a few weeks, I think I have to move him to 1a and he’s still got plenty of prime years left in the tank. It would have been sacrilegious to think anyone could catch St. Joe of Montana just a decade ago. With Brady’s current credentials and the possibility of adding a fifth Super Bowl in the future, could he be in the number one slot before the end of this decade???? I think so.
The man has fine taste in women
Side Note No. 2 – If I gave points for wives and girlfriends, it’s Brady in a landslide.
No. 3: John Elway – The man played in five Super Bowls got incinerated in his first three losing by 19, 32 and 45 points respectively. After the 49ers took Elway to the woodshed in Super Bowl XXIV (24), I couldn’t have blamed the guy if he’d hung them up.
By Super Bowl XXXII (32), Elway was back and looking for his fourth brutal loss to the NFC at the hands of Bret Favre’s Packers and theAFC’s fourteenth straight Super Bowl loss. YesVirginia, the NFC use to own theAFC.
But a funny thing happened, the Broncos won behind a strong running game (Elway finally wasn’t on his own) and the passing of Elway. The following year Elway completes his career by becoming only the sixth quarterback to win back-to-back Super Bowls. What an astounding career comeback. If Elway hangs ‘em up at the end of the 1997 season, he’s not on this list and probably not in the top 10 all time NFL quarterbacks. How completely his resume changes with those two wins. His three previous losses now act as enhancements to his career and not anchors around his neck.
Let’s face it, he drug a lot of under-talented teams into the big game against some ferocious NFC competition losing to the Giants, Redskins and 49ers all multiple Super Bowl champions in that decade.
No 4: Terry Bradshaw – Okay, Okay, Okay…….. put the Iron City bottles down my cross-state friends! I know you’re all screaming that Terry won four and that there’s no way he can be behind Elway or Brady orMontana (for the most delusional Steelers fans). Lets face it. Terry was a game manager in Super Bowls IX and X. Those two championships were more about Franco and Bleier and the Steele Curtain then it was about Bradshaw.
With all that, Bradshaw was still a two-time MVP leading the Steelers to victories in Super Bowls XIII (13) and XIV (14) and he is the only quarterback two win back-to-back Super Bowls twice! I’m not calling Bradshaw a sack of potatoes but I have to admit he’d be my fourth choice among a group of the all-time great quarterbacks.
And yes, I am jealous of the Steelers success….I admit it.
No. 5: Bart Starr – Bart was lighting up score boards when I was two years old so I can’t regale you with in-depth analysis of why I put him here. But the facts are the facts, Starr was the MVP of the first two Super Bowls and had multiple NFL championships before that. Good enough for me!
No. 6: Jim Plunkett – Plunkett was the No. 1 pick in the draft by the New England Patriots. I guess they should have waited until the 6th round to grab a QB that year. After flaming out inNew England, Plunkett lands in the NFL’s equivalent of Father Flannigan’s Home for Wayward Boys: Oakland. He goes on to lead the Raiders to two Super Bowl victories and winning the MVP award as the underdog over my beloved Eagles in Super Bowl XV (15). His play in that game left me sobbing as a thirteen-year-old witness to the carnage.
His victory in Super Bowl XV was also important as it was the first time a wild card team had ever won the Super Bowl (more pain). Just a few short years later, the Los Angeles Raiders clobbered the Redskins for a second Super Bowl Victory in four years. Not bad for a guy who’s football career was thought to be over just a few short years before.
No. 7: Roger Stauback- The only major flaw if Stauback’s credentials is the star on his helmet. Good guy, great quarterback but still a Cowboy. I am honestly ranking him seventh because I feel that’s where he belongs. Maybe if he hadn’t attended the Naval Academy and played more years in the NFL he might have won a few more championships and been higher on the list. But I can’t argue with serving your country, Stauback did the right thing and still had a stellar (there’s that star thing again) NFL career.
No 8: Troy Aikman – Can it be any worse than to have two Cowboy quarterbacks on this list! As an Eagles fan I celebrated every time Reggie White caught Aikman and drove him into the sidewalk-hard Veterans Stadium turf .
But good is good and I have to admit that Aikman turned out to be an all-time great quarterback, three-time champion and one-time MVP.
Here’s where the list starts to get a little murky. I have two spots left with the following names in contention: Len Dawson, Bob Griese, Steve Young, Brett Favre, Kurt Warner, Peyton Manning, Ben Roelisberger, Drew Brees and Johnny Unitas.
So, Nine guys with only two slots left. I felt the easiest way was to eliminate a few. Bob Griese won back-to-back Super Bowls and that’s been an important criteria in my selections so far but lets face it those championships were about the No-Name Defense and Czonka and Kick. The MVPs of both Dolphins wins were Czonka and Jake Scott. Enough said, Griese is out.
Brett Favre was one of my all-time favorite players and should have won more championships but his gun slinging ways hurt his production so he’s out.
Peyton Manning finally got a Super Bowl but his long line of playoff defeats keeps me from putting him in the top ten. Eli has as much claim as Peyton.
SidePointNo.3: Can we please take away Eli’s MVP award. What a shame! It should have gone to Michael Tuck who spent the entire game inNew England’s back field and in Tom Brady’s lap.
Ben Roelisberger already has two championships but I need more. Let’s do this again in ten years and I think Big Ben will be in the top ten. Drew Brees also needs more work that I think he’ll get before his career is over and Kurt Warner was too much of a one-time thing.
That leaves me with Steve Young, Len Dawson and Johnny Unitas.
No. 9 Steve Young – He had all the tools and was a former USFL guy (I have a soft spot for them. I loved the league and worked for the Philadelphia Stars in 1984). Spent some time in the NFL hell hole know as Tampa Bay until he was sprung by the 49ers only to sit behind Joe Montana for years. The time he spent inTampa could have destroyed a lot of guys. Then he replaces a living legend inSan Francisco namedMontana (see No. 1 on the list). Young got it done by winning a Super Bowl and being the MVP. Yet, he’s career feels a little light to me for all that talent. Maybe a victory over the Philadelphia Stars in Summer Bowl II would have done the trick!
No. 10 Johnny Unitas – Unitas guided the Baltimore Colts to a Super Bowl victory at the tail end of his career. I have to give him credit for multiple NFL championships before the Super Bowl era including what many have claimed to be the most important NFL game ever played. The Colts overtime victory over the New York Giants for the NFL championship which led to the modern era of televised professional football
Winning the Lombardi Trophy is the greatest sports awards in American professional sports. These ten men have achieved the highest level of professional excellence and deserve all the recognition they have received.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012 
