Donovan McNabb: Would He Have Been Benched If He Was White?

After news of Donovan McNabb being benched, I looked at his numbers against the Bucs—22 of 35 for 62.9 percent, 228 yards and a QB rating of 100.7.

Then I asked myself. If this was Brett Favre in the same situation, would you bench him after a game like that, even in a lost season? Of course not. We already see that even though the Vikings know Favre is not coming back next season, he is the clear-cut starter on the team.

Now I am a New York Giants fan. I'm in no way a fan of the Washington Redskins or Philadelphia Eagles, but I do respect the classy McNabb on many levels, and I think he's really gotten the short end of the stick in both Philly and D.C. and it may be to one reason we often overlook. He's not white.

Then I looked at some of his career numbers. They were pretty good, so I chose to compare those numbers against Brett Favre, the sure-fire Hall of Famer and professional footballs' iron man. Dan Marino, who's at or near the top of almost every NFL passing record. John Elway, one of the few QBs that went out on top. Steve Young, the NFL's career leader in passer rating and who was just as mobile as McNabb in his prime. Then last and probably least of these QBs, (come on, I'm a Giants fan, couldn't resist) Troy Aikman, who led "Americas team" in the '90s.

 Let's take a look, shall we. After all, the numbers don't lie, right?

Interception Ratio

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LANDOVER, MD - NOVEMBER 15: Donovan McNabb #5 of the Washington Redskins waits for play to resume in the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles on November 15, 2010 at FedExField in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

I could just post how many interceptions they all have thrown, but I think this stat is more important because so what if you threw 500 interceptions if you throw two million passes. This is a stat that shows the percentage of interceptions to total passes thrown.

Donovan McNabb: 2.20 percent

Steve Young: 2.58 percent

Troy Aikman: 2.99 percent

Dan Marino: 3.01 percent

John Elway: 3.12 percent

Brett Favre: 3.29 percent, career; 3.38 percent since 1999 (McNabb's rookie year)

On a side note, nobody in the Hall of Fame has a lower interception rate than McNabb. What's even more surprising is that he's only had two seasons with a wide receiver reaching 1,000 yards receiving.

Touchdown Ratio

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PHILADELPHIA - DECEMBER 27 : Donovan McNabb #5 of the Philadelphia Eagles celebrates after throwing a touchdown pass in the second quarter against the Denver Broncos at Lincoln Financial Field on December 27, 2009 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by

Touchdown percentage, ratio of TDs to total passes attempted.

Steve Young: 5.59 percent

Dan Marino: 5.02 percent

Brett Favre: 4.98 percent, career; 4.58 percent since 1999

Donovan McNabb: 4.4 percent

John Elway: 4.13 percent

Troy Aikman: 3.50 percent

Again, pretty good company to be in seeing the talent that McNabb has had around him throughout his career.

Quarterback Rating

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LANDOVER - SEPTEMBER 19: Donovan McNabb #5 of the Washington Redskins looks for a receiver during the game against the Houston Texans at FedExField on September 19, 2010 in Landover, Maryland. The Texans defeated the Redskins in overtime 30-27. (Photo by

The ever-so-important QB rating, let's see how he stacks up here.

Steve Young: 96.8

Dan Marino: 86.4

Brett Favre: 86.0 career; 84.4 since 1999

Donovan McNabb: 85.7

Troy Aikman: 81.6

John Elway: 79.9

Completion Percentage

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EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - DECEMBER 05: Donovan McNabb #5 of the Washington Redskins throws a pass against the New York Giants on December 5, 2010 at the New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Giants defeated the Redskins 31-7. (Photo by

Easy enough, out of my select number of quarterbacks, let's see who completed the best percentage of their passes.

Steve Young: 64.3 percent

Brett Favre: 61.9 percent, career; 62.1 percent since 1999

Troy Aikman: 61.5 percent

Dan Marino: 59.4 percent

Donovan McNabb: 58.9 percent

John Elway: 56.9 percent

Little Help Here?

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EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - DECEMBER 05: Dave Tollefson #71 of the New York Giants sacks Donovan McNabb #5 of the Washington Redskins who fumbles and the ball is recovered by Corey Webster #23 during their game on December 5, 2010 at The New Meadowlands Stadiu

It's actually a miracle that he's still available to start. After all, he's taken 37 sacks this season. second most in the NFL behind Jay Cutler.

And as we all know, pressure bursts pipes, and he's completed only 58.3 percent of his passes on the season, which lands him in 27th place.

His passer rating of 77.1 also lands him in 25th place in the league.

In perspective, Brett Favre has thrown more interceptions, less touchdowns and has a lower passer rating, but has completed a higher percentage of his passes this season than McNabb.

Conclusion

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EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - DECEMBER 05: Donovan McNabb #5 of the Washington Redskins looks on against the New York Giants on December 5, 2010 at the New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Now my point in this article is this. McNabb has Hall of Fame numbers, but is not getting that treatment by his past two teams. If you insert Brett Favre in his slot I don't think Shanahan would bench him.

I'm not saying that Mike Shanahan is racist and he benched McNabb because McNabb is black and he doesn't like black people. I'm saying that if you have a QB who is fully capable of winning and is just fresh off of a good game, don't you at least give him a chance to finish out the season? Or do you say this should be future Hall of Famer can't get it done, when he did get it done? Evaluating his last performance shows that he shouldn't be benched. I just wonder if it were Favre would this even be an issue?

Donovan McNabb's obviously the most underrated quarterback in league history and the fact that he ranks along with some of the top players to ever play the position really proves that.

Now he's third in the depth chart and has most likely thrown his last pass in a Redskins uniform. He shouldn't be. He definitely gives the Redskins the best chance to win and the fact that Shanahan was on TV saying that they couldn't guarantee that McNabb would be back next season just goes to show the level of respect people have for the should be future Hall of Famer.

I'm sure he wouldn't have anything to evaluate if he had Favre as his quarterback with his numbers the way they are this season.

I really hate to bring up the race question because it is mostly used as a cop out, but I think it's legitimate to ask in this situation would McNabb have been benched if he were white?

No matter if you think I made a good point or if you believe I'm a complete idiot, give me all of your feedback.