The Story of How Marc Bulger Became the NFL's Most Underappreciated QB

If you've ever wondered what it would be like to have performed at a higher level than almost anyone in your profession just to be forgotten in a matter of seconds, you should talk to Marc Bulger.

I know that nobody is talking about the Rams these days, especially here on Bleacher Report. Hell, they don't even have a Community Leader.

Yet oftentimes tales of underrated heroes vanish amidst a clouds of more popular gossip.

For every person who's wondering "What the hell makes Marc Bulger relevant?", there are another one-hundred people wondering whether Brett Favre will come out of retirement to play for the Minnesota Vikings.

I'd dare say at this point in time, Kyle Orton has become more relevant than Marc Bulger.

But he shouldn't.

While the majority of NFL fans may have forgotten a team which once known as "The Greatest Show on Turf", I am one fan of professional football that has not forgotten the high level that Marc Bulger played at.

Now, I know what you're thinking. "What did Marc Bulger do that was so special, right"?

Allow me to explain.

You see, two years ago Marc Bulger would have been considered among the NFL's elite.

No, he didn't get as much screen time as Peyton Manning and he didn't get the girls like Tom Brady. Marc Bulger however put all of his heart, soul, and focus into playing football and did so at a very high level.

For a moment, let's take a look at what Marc Bulger's career looked like prior to the past two disastrous seasons in St. Louis. His numbers were as follows...

Marc Bulger (2002-06): 1,357 of 2,106 (64.4 percent) for 16,233 yards, 95 touchdowns, and 59 interceptions.

Quarterback Rating: 91.3

Yet as impressive as those numbers were, they don't tell the entire story unless you look further in depth.

While Marc Bulger did play many games over the course of those five seasons, he also missed 20 of those games (nine of them being a backup prior to Kurt Warner's injury and 11 of them due to being injured himself).

Prior to the 2007 season, Marc Bulger averaged 270.5 yards per game (the highest total in NFL history and more than 10 yards ahead of the man in second place, Peyton Manning).

His completion percentage of 64.4 was the second best in NFL history (ranking only behind Kurt Warner) for quarterbacks who had more than 2,000 passing attempts.

On September 10, 2006, against the Denver Broncos, Marc Bulger completed his 1,000th pass faster than any quarterback in NFL history.

Bulger reached this plateau in 45 games. It took Kurt Warner 47 games, Peyton Manning & Drew Bledsoe 48 games, and Dan Marino 49 games (all of the above four mentioned ranking second to fifth respectively).

So what we have prior to 2007 was one of the most accurate and productive quarterbacks in NFL history. A man who was equaling or exceeding plataues that not even the likes of Peyton Manning or Tom Brady had reached at that point.

Yet even prior to 2007, you rarely heard mention of Marc Bulger in the same class as many other quarterbacks, even those who performed at a much lower level than he did.

But like I said before, that was before the start of the 2007 season.

Marc Bulger's performance during these past two seasons has been anything but spectacular. The production also tells the same story.

Marc Bulger (2007-08): 472 of 818 (57.7 percent) for 5,112 yards, 22 touchdowns, and 28 interceptions.

Quarterback Rating: 70.9

So, how did this happen?

How did a quarterback who was once performing at a higher level than almost everyone in the entire NFL suddenly perform like this?

His quarterback rating dropped by more than 20 points. His completion percentage went down 6.7 percent and a man who once threw many more touchdowns than interceptions was suddenly throwing more interceptions than touchdowns.

Something just didn't sit right with me and that was even prior to doing the research.

Thankfully, taking a look at the rest of Bulger's team managed to shed much light on the situation.

From 2007 to 2008, the St. Louis Rams were 4-28 which was the worst winning percentage (12.5 percent) of any NFL team during that span.

And while it might be easy to sit back and blame the quarterback for the team's poor performance, let's actually take the time to look at how much support was given to Bulger.

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