Yeah, maybe so for McMahon. But, like Dilfer, his role with the Bears was primarily to not screw up. In '85, he only attempted 24 passes per game in which he played (the Bears were so infrequently behind, they didn’t need to pass often), and only threw 15 TD passes.
McMahon’s career passing rating was 78.2, identical to Johnny Unitas (though Unitas played in a different era, where lower ratings were the norm). Among his contemporaries, McMahon’s rating is similar to Phil Simms, Jim Everett, Bobby Hebert, and Jim Harbaugh – not studs, but not dogs, either.
On any sort of statistical basis, Namath probably belongs at or near the top of such a list. He’s by far the “worst” QB in the Hall of Fame; his Hall credentials are likely winning Super Bowl III, the legitimacy he helped give the AFL, and his charisma.
I think McMahon was a pretty good leader - had a good huddle presence and a swagger. Had some toughness. Didn’t make a lot of bad mistakes, took care of the ball, could make a big throw once or twice a game.
He actually had problems staying healthy even before that incident; he never started more than 13 games in a season (in the Bears’ Super Bowl season, he only played in 13 games, and only started 11).
Looking at his page on Pro Football Reference, it doesn’t seem like his overall statistics were noticeably worse after 1986 (when Martin injured him). In fact, his worst season as a starter was 1986 (based on his stats up until that injury, which knocked him out for the rest of that season).
Marino - Art Rooney’s biggest draft day regret his entire career. Can you imagine Marino following Bradshaw? No Malone, (Marino beat Malone in AFC Championship to go to his only Super Bowl), No Brister, no O’Donnell, no Miller, no Stewart, no Graham, no Woodley, no Tomczak, no Maddox, no Blackledge, no Bono, no Stoudt, no Campbell… or any of the other QB’s I may be missing. Seriously, the next Steeler old-timers game, they should have every QB that played between Bradshaw and Roethlesburger (with the exception of Mike Kruczek) jump out of a clown car. What a steaming pile of mediocrity.
Kelly - I’ve often wondered if Norwood’s kick was good instead of wide right, if they would have WON 4 Super Bowls in a row.
Fouts - One of the best pure passers I’ve ever seen. Never played in one Super Bowl, and lost his best chance when the Bengals hosted the coldest game on record (yes, you Green Bay fans… even colder than the ice bowl). The temp was -57 wind chill factor. That was a brutal day.
Moon - I think he won 5 Grey Cups in Canada, but he should have been in the NFL his entire career. He was great.
Tarkenton - loved watching him play, but he could never get over that hump.
For worst to win, (for my list, they had to be playing, not a bench rider)
Dilfer - is any explanation really needed?
Williams - one of the single best quarters in SB history, but he’s the Superbowl equivalent of Tim Smith (who? Exactly).
Namath - most over-rated QB in the history of football; didn’t hurt he played for the Jets and beat the old guard NFL Colts in Super Bowl III. Check out his stats if you want to understand what East Coast Media Bias is, and why so many people hate NYC sportswriters.
Rypien - Amazing he has a ring. He was never better than average, even in his prime. If he had a prime.
Johnson - So bad, I had to look up who QB’ed the Bucs in SB 37!
It truly was. I grew up in Green Bay; some friends of my parents’ had moved from GB to Cincinnati about a year before that game. They got tickets for that AFC Championship Game, and still had all their extreme cold-weather gear from Wisconsin to wear to it (their friends, who were not similarly equipped, were very jealous).
The week before that game, the Chargers had beaten the Dolphins in the famous overtime game in very humid Miami – the game in which Kellen Winslow had 13 catches, despite dehydration and extreme cramps from the heat.
While Fouts was a great QB who certainly belongs on this list, I hate the way that people overlook that the Bengals had to play in this weather too. And their QB, Ken Anderson, was no slouch. In fact, he was the NFL MVP that year. You could make a good case that Anderson should be higher on this list than Fouts. It’s a crime that Anderson still isn’t in the HOF.
Facetious answer to the “best QB never to win” - Gale Gilbert. Has to be. Gale is the only player in NFL history to be on FIVE consecutive Super Bowl teams… but lost all 5 games; and unless I’m mistaken, he never even got to play in any of them. Four straight with Buffalo, then with the Chargers.
And, to top it all off, according to Wikipedia he even played on a Little League World Series team… that lost in the Championship game.
I agree with the fact that the Bengals and Ken Anderson had to play in that weather also. And Anderson outplayed Fouts. I don’t know if I agree with the part about Anderson being better than Fouts overall, but he is a historically underrated QB (probably in large part to his lack of rings). I’ll have to go back and look at Anderson’s stats.
Yeah, I went back to have a look after writing that. This Football Outsiders piece pretty convincingly argues that Fouts and Anderson were about equal.
You’ve got a point, but only to a point. By the stats, he came into the '68 season as the guy who’d passed for more yards than anyone in professional football in '67, just like he’d come into the '67 season as the guy who’d passed for more yards than anyone in professional football in '66. So with that gunslinger credential – along with the single-season passing-yards record – in his pocket when things kicked off in '68, he only needs to make it all the way to the Super Bowl, guarantee the 19-point underdog, and win the ensuing stat duel against Unitas in the big game: stronger on completions per attempt, and better touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio.
So he racks up the accolades at that point, and then it’s too late to take it back once he gets over-the-hill fast with injury after injury (but still makes the headlines by again passing for more yards than anyone else; he’s still got the arm, no matter how bad his knees get). If they’d known what was yet to come in January of '69, maybe they would’ve said something different – but given what he’d shown until then, what else could they have said?
In '85, he only attempted 24 passes per game in which he played (the Bears were so infrequently behind, they didn’t need to pass often), and only threw 15 TD passes.
