The 10 Best Super Bowl QBs of All Time
As New England fans can attest, there might be only one measure of NFL greatness in which Eli Manning ranks ahead of brother Peyton. That would be Super Bowl greatness. Rings matter when debating the best Super Bowl quarterbacks of all time. Ahead of Super Bowl XLIX, Boston.com looked back at every Super Bowl to determine the best quarterbacks ever when it matters the most.
Honorable Mention: The One-Year Wonders
Sorry, Steve Young and your record six touchdown passes. Apologies to Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees, who carried their teams to Super Bowl wins recently. All three of them are incredible signal callers, but one standout game wasn’t enough to crack this list of the 10 best Super Bowl quarterbacks of all time.
10. Bart Starr
2 games: 61.7% completion rate, 452 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT, 106 rating
We start our countdown with the quarterback won won the first two Super Bowls. Teams didn’t throw as much back when Starr was a star for the Green Bay Packers, but his efficiency in a historic pair of blowout victories speaks for itself.
9. Jim Plunkett
2 games: 63.0% completion rate, 433 yards, 4 TD, 0 INT, 122.8 rating
Like Starr, Plunkett played efficient football in a pair of blowout Super Bowl wins. His Oakland Raiders beat the Philadelphia Eagles by 17 in Super Bowl XV and later topped Washington by 29 in Super Bowl XVIII after moving to Los Angeles.
The Patriots made Plunkett the first overall pick in the 1971 NFL Draft. Needless to say, his best years weren’t in New England.
8. Eli Manning
2 games: 66.2% completion rate, 551 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT, 96.2 rating
There’s only one Manning on this list, and it’s Patriot-killer Eli Manning. Eli isn’t the sole reason why the New York Giants upset the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, but he did lead the game winning drive late in the 4th quarter. His steady performance four years later — again against the Patriots — affirmed his Super Bowl status.
7. Brett Favre
2 games: 56.5 completion rate, 502 yards, 5 TD, 1 INT, 97.6 rating
Favre’s completion percentage wasn’t all that pretty, but his performances in back-to-back Super Bowls with the Green Bay Packers in the late 90’s were things of beauty. He threw two touchdown passes in a victory over the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXII, and followed it up with three touchdowns against the Denver Broncos in one of the best Super Bowls of the decade.
6. Roger Staubach
4 games: 62.2% completion rate, 735 yards, 8 TD, 4 INT, 95.4 rating
Staubach’s Dallas Cowboys went 2-2 in Super Bowls with him under center. In a pair of Super Bowl losses to Pittsburgh, Staubach threw 5 touchdown passes and 4 interceptions against the vaunted Steel Curtain defense. In wins over Miami and Denver, he threw four touchdown passes and no interceptions.
5. Troy Aikman
3 games: 70.0% completion rate, 689 yards, 5 TD, 1 INT, 111.9 rating
Aikman had one of the best individual performances in Super Bowl history in his debut in the big game, throwing for four touchdowns and no interceptions as the Dallas Cowboys topped the Bills in Super Bowl XXVII. He followed that up with solid but unspectacular performances in wins over the Bills (again) and the Steelers.
Aikman’s Super Bowl legacy is driven by that one amazing performance, and his Cowboys teams in the early 90’s were far superior teams than their competition. He won all three of his Super Bowl appearances.
4. Kurt Warner
3 games: 62.9% completion rate, 1,156 yards, 6 TD, 3 INT, 96.7 rating
Warner’s teams went just 1-2 in the Super Bowl, but his performances for the St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals established him as one of the top quarterbacks of his era. The top three single-game passing yards performances in Super Bowl history all belong to Warner.
Warner’s worst game was in Super Bowl XXXVI against New England. He only threw for 365 yards and brought the Rams back from a 14-point deficit in that game. His best performance came in Super Bowl XXXIV, when he passed for a then-record 414 yards and 2 touchdowns against the Titans.
3. Terry Bradshaw
4 games: 58.3% completion rate, 932 yards, 9 TD, 4 INT, 112.8 rating
Bradshaw is one of just two quarterbacks to win four Super Bowl rings. His propensity to connect on memorable deep passes in Super Bowl games played a big part in his success with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Thanks to his remarkable 11.1 passing yards per attempt, Bradshaw only needed to attempt an average of 21 passes per Super Bowl to do plenty of damage in the box score.
2. Tom Brady
5 games: 64.5% completion rate, 1,277 yards, 9 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, 93.8 rating
Even before appearing in his record sixth Super Bowl, Brady holds career records for attempts (197), completions (127), and yards in the event. A win Sunday for the New England Patriots over the Seahawks would make him just the third QB to win four championships. Ahead of that game, Brady is just two touchdown passes shy of the all-time Super Bowl record as well.
He’ll have his detractors due to a pair of uneven performances against the Giants in two defeats, but Brady led scoring drives late in 4th quarters to win or take the lead in three different Super Bowl appearances.
1. Joe Montana
4 games: 68.0% completion rate, 1,142 yards, 11 TD, 0 INT, 127.8 rating
There’s not much to debate here. Joe Montana is certainly the best Super Bowl quarterback of all time.
The San Francisco 49ers won his four Super Bowls appearances as “Cool Joe’’ never threw an interception in the big game. His game-winning drive against the Bengals in Super Bowl XXIII remains one of the greatest clutch performances in NFL history.
Bolstering his resume, Montana beat a pair of Hall of Fame QBs in the Super Bowl (John Elway and Dan Marino) as well as the Bengals’ duo of Ken Anderson and Boomer Esiason, each formidable in his own right. When the stakes were highest, no one raised his game like Montana.
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