I was thinking about winning Super Bowl quarterbacks and how they played during the regular season of their Super Bowl winning years. Jimmy Garoppolo played and lost last season, and was rated 8th in the NFL with a 102.0 QB rating (as the NFL calculates it, not the ESPN QBR which is admittedly probably more accurate).
It's easy to come up with the list of best and worst NFL quarterbacks who have won Super Bowls by, say, career rating. Top three career rating QBs are Aaron Rodgers (102.4), Russell Wilson (101.2) and Drew Brees (98.4), all of whom have won Super Bowls. Worst by far was Namath with a career rating of (65.5), then Plunkett (67.5), then Doug Williams (69.4).
But what about their Super Bowl year? How did Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks compare to other quarterbacks that season? I'd always thought, for example, Terry Bradshaw was an average QB with a great team -- particularly a great defense -- around him. And he was 25th among NFL quarterbacks in his first Super Bowl season. But he was 5th, 2nd and 8th in passer rating his other Super Bowl seasons.
Based upon regular season NFL QB ratings (not the ESPN version), eight Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks were also the best quarterbacks during the regular season in their Super Bowl winning year by rating, including:
1966, Bart Starr (105)
1971, Roger Staubach (104.8)
1976, Ken Stabler (103.4)
1989, Joe Montana (112.4)
1994, Steve Young (112.8, highest regular season rating of any Super-Bowl-winning QB)
1999, Kurt Warner (109.2)
2006, Peyton Manning (101.0)
2009, Drew Brees (109.6)
And a fair number finished 2nd in the NFL in QB Rating during the regular season, including Staubach ('77), Bradshaw ('78), Montana ('84), Rypien ('91), Aikman ('93), Favre ('96), and Brady ('16).
And which Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks fared the worst compared with their peers? Which had an NFL passer rating that placed them 20th or worse in the NFL? The list includes:
1974 Bradshaw (55.2, 25th)
2000 Dilfer (76.6, 20th)
2008 Eli Manning (73.9, 25th)
2009 Ben Roethlisberger (80.1, 24th)
2015 Peyton Manning (67.9, 34th, by far the worst regular season showing of a Super Bowl winning quarterback)
I didn't include three Super Bowl-winning QBs who were part-timers during the regular season, but were forced to start during the Super Bowl:
1987 Doug Williams (94.0, 21st)
1990 Jeff Hostetler (89.0, 26th)
2017 Nick Foles (76.7, 26th)
Stanford quarterback stats of interest:
1970 Unitas (65.1, 17th) didn't have a great season. Brodie finished with a 93.8 rating, best in the NFL.
1980 Plunkett (72.9, 17th)
1983 Plunkett (82.7, 11th)
1997 Elway (87.5, 7th)
1998 Elway (93.0, 5th)
Statistics are attached.
It's easy to come up with the list of best and worst NFL quarterbacks who have won Super Bowls by, say, career rating. Top three career rating QBs are Aaron Rodgers (102.4), Russell Wilson (101.2) and Drew Brees (98.4), all of whom have won Super Bowls. Worst by far was Namath with a career rating of (65.5), then Plunkett (67.5), then Doug Williams (69.4).
But what about their Super Bowl year? How did Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks compare to other quarterbacks that season? I'd always thought, for example, Terry Bradshaw was an average QB with a great team -- particularly a great defense -- around him. And he was 25th among NFL quarterbacks in his first Super Bowl season. But he was 5th, 2nd and 8th in passer rating his other Super Bowl seasons.
Based upon regular season NFL QB ratings (not the ESPN version), eight Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks were also the best quarterbacks during the regular season in their Super Bowl winning year by rating, including:
1966, Bart Starr (105)
1971, Roger Staubach (104.8)
1976, Ken Stabler (103.4)
1989, Joe Montana (112.4)
1994, Steve Young (112.8, highest regular season rating of any Super-Bowl-winning QB)
1999, Kurt Warner (109.2)
2006, Peyton Manning (101.0)
2009, Drew Brees (109.6)
And a fair number finished 2nd in the NFL in QB Rating during the regular season, including Staubach ('77), Bradshaw ('78), Montana ('84), Rypien ('91), Aikman ('93), Favre ('96), and Brady ('16).
And which Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks fared the worst compared with their peers? Which had an NFL passer rating that placed them 20th or worse in the NFL? The list includes:
1974 Bradshaw (55.2, 25th)
2000 Dilfer (76.6, 20th)
2008 Eli Manning (73.9, 25th)
2009 Ben Roethlisberger (80.1, 24th)
2015 Peyton Manning (67.9, 34th, by far the worst regular season showing of a Super Bowl winning quarterback)
I didn't include three Super Bowl-winning QBs who were part-timers during the regular season, but were forced to start during the Super Bowl:
1987 Doug Williams (94.0, 21st)
1990 Jeff Hostetler (89.0, 26th)
2017 Nick Foles (76.7, 26th)
Stanford quarterback stats of interest:
1970 Unitas (65.1, 17th) didn't have a great season. Brodie finished with a 93.8 rating, best in the NFL.
1980 Plunkett (72.9, 17th)
1983 Plunkett (82.7, 11th)
1997 Elway (87.5, 7th)
1998 Elway (93.0, 5th)
Statistics are attached.
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