NFL Franchise QBs: How do the Bears stack up?
With the draft coming up, I was thinking about "franchise QBs" and why the Bears were so lousy at acquiring them. I then started to wonder how the Bears stacked up against the other 31 NFL teams in terms of Quarterbacks and how bad they really were. I mean, there's only so many Joe Montanas to go around, right? So I developed a rating system, and then looked at all teams QBs over the last 30 years and gave them a point value. (Thank you pro-football-reference.com)
First, here's how I broke down the Quarterbacks.
Type I - Franchise QBs (15 points)
I figured 8+ years as a starter, perennial Pro Bowler, championship caliber play. 15 points might seem excessive, but one Peyton Manning goes a long way. Further, if the team in question came out of the 1970s on the heels of a franchise QB (even though he didn't quite fit into my time frame), I stretched a bit and included him. Like I said, one Roger Staubach goes a long way.
Type II - Really Good (8 points)
Good starter for 5-7 years, a few Pro Bowl appearances. Your typical Donovan McNabb or Matt Hasselbeck.
Type III - Solid Starter (5 points)
A Legit starter for 3-4 years, maybe one Pro Bowl. Jeff Blake. Jim Harbaugh with the Colts.
Type IV - One Year Wonder (2 points)
Only 1 or 2 years with a team, but that one year was great (textbook Erik Kramer), or he won a Super Bowl (Doug Williams). I also put young guys here who are on the current roster and are clearly marked as "the QB of the future", though they still might drop down a notch. (Like Leinart and Cutler.)
Type V - Below Average, but still Legit (1 point)
This guy was a "bottom tier" type of QB, but he wasn't an embarrassment to the profession and lasted 1 or 2 years in the role. Jim Harbaugh with the Bears.
0 points
Guys who started for a season or less and were so impressive they were immediately cut. Bears like Chris Chandler, Kordell Stewart and Dave Krieg come to mind. I didn't waste time listing these guys.
Note:
+/- means this is an active QB that might move up (or down) a notch when its all said and done.
Adj - When you see this number, such as *2, means this team has only been around half of the 30 years and in theory you should multiply their number times two. Houston, thus, is *5.
Here's how the teams broke down with my rating system:
| Team |
I - 15 points |
II - 8 pts |
III - 5 pts. |
IV - 2 pts. |
IV - 1 pt. |
Total |
Adj. |
| ARZ |
|
N. Lomax |
J. Plummer |
M. Leinart+/- |
S. Beuerlein,
D. Kreig,
K. Warner |
18 |
|
| ATL |
|
S. Bartowski,
C. Chandler |
M. Vick,
C. Miller,
J. George |
|
|
31 |
|
| BAL |
|
|
V. Testaverde
(he's really been around) |
T. Dilfer |
K. Boller,
S. McNair |
9* |
*2 (18) |
| BUF |
J. Kelly |
J. Ferguson |
|
|
R Johnson,
D.Flutie |
25 |
|
| CAR |
|
|
S. Beuerlein,
K. Collins,
J. Delhomme+ |
|
|
15* |
*2 (30) |
| CHI |
|
|
J. McMahon |
E. Kramer,
R. Grossman
(SB XLI) |
J. Miller,
J. Harbaugh,
V. Evans |
10 |
|
| CIN |
B. Esiason |
K. Anderson |
C. Palmer+,
J. Blake |
|
J. Kitna |
34 |
|
| CLE |
|
B. Sipe,
B. Kosar |
V. Testaverde |
D. Anderson+/- |
|
23 |
|
| DAL |
T. Aikman,
R.Staubach |
|
T. Romo+/-,
D. White |
|
Q. Carter,
D. Bledsoe,
V. Testaverde, |
43 |
|
| DEN |
J. Elway |
C. Morton |
J. Plummer,
B. Griese (really!) |
J. Cutler+/- |
|
35 |
|
| DET |
|
|
|
|
E. Hipple,
S. Mitchell,
C. Batch,
R. Peete,
J. Harrington,
J. Kitna+,
E. Kramer |
7 |
|
| GB |
B. Favre |
|
D. Majkowski,
L. Dickey |
A. Rodgers+/- |
|
27 |
|
| HOU |
|
|
|
M. Schaub+/- |
D. Carr |
3* |
*5 (15) |
| IND |
P. Manning |
|
J. Harbaugh |
|
J. George,
J. Trudeau,
M. Pagel |
23 |
|
| JAX |
|
M. Brunell |
|
D. Garrard+/- |
B. Leftwich |
11* |
*2 (22) |
| KC |
|
T. Green,
S. DeBerg |
J. Montana,
Kenney |
S. Bono |
|
28 |
|
| MIA |
D. Marino |
|
|
|
J. Fiedler |
16 |
|
| MIN |
F. Tarkenton |
T. Kramer |
D. Culpepper,
W. Wilson |
J. George,
R. Cunningham |
B. Johnson,
W. Moon |
37 |
|
| NO |
|
A. Manning |
A. Brooks,
D. Brees+, |
|
B. Tolliver,
J. Everett,
B. Hebert |
21 |
|
| NE |
T. Brady |
D. Bledsoe |
S. Grogan |
|
T. Eason |
29 |
|
| NYG |
P. Simms |
|
K. Collins |
E. Manning+ |
D. Brown,
J. Hostetler |
23 |
|
| NYJ |
|
K. O'Brien |
B. Esiason,
C. Pennington,
V. Testaverde |
N. O'Donnell |
|
25 |
|
| TEN |
W. Moon |
S. McNair |
|
V. Young+/- |
C. Chandler |
26 |
|
| PHI |
R. Jaworski |
D. McNabb,
R. Cunningham |
|
|
|
31 |
|
| PIT |
T. Bradshaw |
|
B. Roethlisberger+,
N. O'Donnell,
K. Stewart |
|
M. Tomczak,
M. Malone,
T. Maddox |
33 |
|
| OAK |
K. Stabler |
R. Gannon |
J. Plunkett,
J. Hostetler |
J. Russell+/- |
J. George,
J. Schroeder |
37 |
|
| STL |
|
J. Everett,
M. Bulger |
K. Warner |
|
T. Banks,
V. Ferragamo,
C. Miller |
24 |
|
| SD |
D. Fouts |
|
D. Brees |
P. Rivers+/- |
S. Humphries,
B. Tolliver |
24 |
|
| SEA |
|
M. Hasselbeck,
D. Krieg |
|
|
R. Mirer,
W. Moon,
J. Kitna |
19 |
|
| SF |
J. Montana,
S. Young |
J. Garcia |
|
|
A. Smith+ |
39 |
|
| TB |
|
|
B. Johnson |
J. Garcia |
V. Testeverde,
T. Dilfer,
S. Deberg |
10 |
|
| WAS |
|
J. Theisman |
M. Rypien |
J. Schroeder,
D. Williams |
G. Frerotte,
B. Johnson, |
19 |
|
If the chart above means anything, and I highly suspect that it doesn't, but if it does, it means the Bears have really sucked at getting good QBs over the last 30 years. I mean, I knew that, but going through the list of teams, I came to the realization that only one team is honestly worse than the Bears:
Ladies and Gentlemen, your Detroit Lions! Only the Lions have had a worse QB history than the Bears. The Bears at least had one guy start for a few years, make a single Pro Bowl, and even win a Super Bowl (Jim McMahon.) The Lions have a bunch of Charlie Batches and that's it.
Other notes:
-
Dallas and San Francisco have been the best teams for QBs, obviously, with two franchise QBs and at least one more that wasn't bad at all. Surprisingly, Minnesota, Denver, and Oakland are right on their heels (though a big chunk of Oakland's success was with Ken Stabler in the 70s.)
-
Never would have guessed the Bengals would fare so well, but they've had a number of good QBs over the years, and a potential franchise guy in Palmer on the roster right now. Even Arizona did OK on this stupid chart. Surprising. If the Bears only had Neil Lomax in the 80s...
-
Philly has had three good QBs and nothing else worth talking about. Weird.
-
Tampa Bay is pretty much a carbon copy of the Bears, though Brad Johnson was a little more prolific overall than McMahon.
-
Miami is a wasteland outside of Marino. But one Marino goes a long way. :)
Much like my review of lousy Bears draft picks, going over Bears QBs was mighty depressing. I mean, their best QB was undoubtedly Jim McMahon and I really had to stretch to make him a Type III guy. He only started 10+ games for the Bears twice. It's the single Pro Bowl ('85) and Super Bowl win that got him his "III". I think Jim Miller might have ended up a "III" had he not gotten hurt so much. Kramer, too, probably. But that's really it as far as decent Bears QBs go. Pathetic.
Oh well, this Saturday we get to see who the Bears are going to make their next "Type IV" Quarterback. Joe Flacco? John David Booty? The world anxiously awaits...