NFL Super Bowl: The Top 10 and Bottom 5 Performances By The Losing QB
Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote "Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all."
Does this hold true for those teams that have made it to the Super Bowl only to have lost? Fans of the Minnesota Vikings or Buffalo Bills, whose teams have lost four Super Bowls without ever coming away victorious, could provide their insight. ย
What about those NFL teams that have never made the trip to the Super Bowl?ย I suppose we could poll the fans of Detroit, Houston, Cleveland or Jacksonville.
How many times have we heard an athlete proclaim it's just an honor to be here, the week leading up to the big game only to find them with tears in their eyes following a loss?
As we get ready for Super Bowl XLV and the match up between Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers and Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger here's a look back over the previous 44 Super Bowls.
There have been plenty of memorable quarterback performances.
The top three quarterback performances of all time are:
No. 1โPhil Simms in Super Bowl XXI. Leading the Giants to a 39-20 win over Denver Simms went 22 for 25, 168 yards, three touchdowns for a 150.9 QB rating.
No. 2โJoe Montana in Super Bowl XXIV. In another win over the Broncos Joe led San Francisco to a 55-10 victory going 22 of 29 for 297 yards with five touchdowns and a 147.6ย QB rating.
No. 3โTroy Aikman in Super Bowlย XXVII. Aikman would lead the Cowboys to a 52-17 victory over Buffalo. He would complete 22 of 30 passes for 273 yards for four touchdowns and a 140.7 QB rating.
So who has the best "second-place" performance?
I compiled the 10 best performances by the losing quarterback of the Super Bowl, and just for good measure I included the five poorest performances as well.
No. 10: Len Dawson, Kansas City Chiefs—Super Bowl I
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Len Dawson gets the distinction of being the first quarterback to lose a Super Bowl.
In Super Bowl I he would complete 16 of 27 passes for 211 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
Bart Starr and the Packers would prevail with a 35-10 victory at the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles. ย
No. 9: Jim Kelly, Buffalo Bills—Super Bowl
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Super Bowl XXV would be the first of four consecutive appearances for the Buffalo Bills, and four consecutive losses.
Bills Quarterback Jim Kelly would lose three of them.
Kelly would complete 18 of 30 passes for 212 yards against the Giants, who behind a single touchdown pass from Jeff Hostetler would win on a last second field goal 20-19โthe closest of their four Super Bowl losses.
Kelly would finish with an 81.5 quarterback rating.
No. 8: Tom Brady, New England Patriots—Super Bowl XLII
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In another close game to the New York Giants, Tom Brady and the Patriots would fall one game short of the perfect season in a 17-14 loss.
Brady would complete 29 of 48 passes for 266 yards a one touchdown for an 82.5 QB rating.
His counterpart, Eli Manning would only do slightly better completing 19 of 34 passes for two touchdowns and an interceptionโan 87.3 QB rating.
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No. 7: John Elway, Denver Broncos—Super Bowl XXI
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In his first Super Bowl performance, John Elway actually had the Broncos leading 10-9 at half time.ย
Unfortunately Phil Simms had the best quarterback rating in Super Bowl history in leading the Giants to 30 second-half points and a 39-20 victory.ย
Elway would complete 22 of 37 passes for 304 yards with one touchdown and one interception for a 83.6 quarterback rating.
No. 6: Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts—Super Bowl XLIV
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There was no way Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts were going to lose to the New Orleans Saints.
This was the Saints first Super Bowl appearance in franchise history and the Colts had won the Super Bowl only three short seasons previous.
Yet, Drew Brees and the Saints would prevail in a 31-17 victory over the the Colts.
Manning would complete 31 of 45 yards for 333 yards with a touchdown and an interception. His quarterback rating would be a respectable 88.5.
No. 5: Brett Favre, Green Bay Packers—Super Bowl XXXII
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After winning Super Bowl XXXI, Brett Favre was looking to lead the Packers to consecutive Super Bowl victories for the second time in franchise history.
However, after losing their four previous appearances in the Super Bowl, the Denver Broncos would finally prevail.
Favre would complete 25 of 42 passes for 256 yards with three touchdowns and an interception for a QB rating of 91.0.
Favre's numbers would actually be better than those of John Elway who would complete only 12 of 22 passes with no touchdowns and an interceptionโa lowly 51.9 quarterback rating.
If not for the three rushing touchdowns by Terrell Davis in the Broncos' 31-24 victory, Favre may have earned the victory and would not have been eligible for this ranking.
No. 4: Ken Anderson, Cincinnati Bengals—Super Bowl XVI
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In 1981 Ken Anderson was the top rated passer in the NFL with a 98.4 quarterback rating.
He would lead the Cincinnati Bengals to Super Bowl XVI against the Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers.ย
In an extremely close contest, Anderson would complete 25 of 34 passes for 300 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions for a 95.2 quarterback rating.
His statistics were better than Montana's with the exception of the interceptions. Montana finished 14 of 22 for only 157 yards and a single touchdown, proving the only numbers that matter are those for the final scoreโa 26-21 San Francisco victory.
No. 3: Roger Staubach, Dallas Cowboys—Super Bowl XIII
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Roger Staubach and the Cowboys were looking for back-to-back Super Bowl wins following the 1978 season.ย
In Super Bowl XIII Staubach would complete 17 of 30 passes for 225 yards, with three touchdowns and an interception for a 100.4 quarterback rating. He is one of only three Super Bowl losing quarterbacks to exceed triple digits in QB rating.ย
Unfortunately for Staubach, Terry Bradshaw would also complete 17 of 30 passes with four touchdowns leading the Steelers to a 35-31 victory.
No. 2: Kurt Warner, Arizona Cardinals—Super Bowl XLIII
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If the MVP could be awarded to a player on the losing team this would have been the time to award it to Kurt Warner.
Warner completed 31 of 43 passes for 377 yards for three touchdowns and an interception. His quarterback rating was an incredible 112.3โoutplaying his counterpart Ben Roethlisberger would finished the game completing 21 of 30 passes for 256 yards with one touchdown and one interception for a 93.2 QB rating.
The Cardinals would fall just short losing 27-23 to the Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII.
Incidentally, Warner is only one of two quarterbacks to lose the Super Bowl with two different teams. Craig Morton lost the Super Bowl with Dallas and Denver.
No. 1: Jake Delhomme, Carolina Panthers—Super Bowl XXXVIII
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This was an improbable run for the Carolina Panthers.
After going 1-15 in 2001, Jake Delhomme would lead the Panthers to Super Bowl XXXVIII to face Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, just two years later.
Delhomme would complete 16 of 32 passes for 323 yards for three touchdowns. His quarterback rating was an incredible 117.1.
The difference was that Brady would complete as many passes as Delhomme would throw.
Along with three touchdowns of his own, Brady would lead the Patriots to a last second field goal and a 32-29 victory.
That's the top 10 quarterback performances in a Super Bowl losing effort.
Now for the top five clunkers in Super Bowl history.
No. 5 Worst Super Bowl Performance—Billy Kilmer, Washington Redskins
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In Super Bowl VII Billy Kilmer would complete 14 of 28 passes and throw three interceptions.
His quarterback rating would be a measly 19.6.ย
I guess he can take some solace in the fact the Redskins only lost 14-7 to the Miami Dolphins as Bob Griese would complete only eight passes. Of course he only threw 11 for the entire game and one was for a touchdown.
Fourth Worst Super Bowl Performance—John Elway, Denver Broncos
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Super Bowl XXIV would be the fourth Super Bowl loss for the Denver Broncosโand their worst.
Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers would score two touchdowns in every quarter against the Broncos as they rolled to a 55-10 victory.ย
This would be Elway's third trip to the Super Bowl. He would never get on track completing only 10 of 26 passes for 108 yards and two interceptions. He would finish the game with a 19.4 quarterback rating, while Montana would complete 22 of 29 passes for five touchdowns and a 147.6 rating.
Third Worst Super Bowl Performance—Fran Tarkenton, Minnesota Vikings
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Fran Tarkenton would lead the Minnesota Vikings to their third Super Bowl in four years.
In Super Bowl XI they would face the John Madden-coached Oakland Raiders.
Tarkenton and the Vikings' offense found it very difficult to do anything against the Oakland defense.
Tarkenton would complete only 11 of 26 passes for 102 yards while being intercepted three times.
The Raiders would go on to win 32-14 behind Ken Stabler who completed 12 of 19 passes for 180 yards and a touchdown.
This would be the Vikings fourth Super Bowl loss in four trips.
Second Worst Super Bowl Performance—Kerry Collins, New York Giants
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In Super Bowl XXXV Kerry Collins and the New York Giants would run into one of the best defenses of all times led by Super Bowl MVP Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens.
Collins would only complete 15 of 39 passes for 112 yards and four interceptions. His quarterback rating would be only 7.1.
Compared to this, Trent Dilfer's 12 of 25 for 153 yards and a touchdown looked magnificent!
The Ravens would win 34-7โthe only Giant touchdown would be scored on a 97-yard kickoff return.
Worst Super Bowl Performace Ever—Craig Morton, Denver Broncos
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For Craig Morton it was a chance to avenge his loss Super Bowl V as the Cowboys quarterback against the Baltimore Colts.
He would start Super Bowl XII as the Denver quarterback, becoming the first quarterback to start for two different teams.
The Dallas defense never gave him a chance as he would complete only four of 15 passes for 39 yards. That was the good news, the bad news was he would complete another four passes to his former team.
His quarterback rating would be 0.0.
Norris Reese would replace Morton, but the results were not much better. Reese would also complete four passes passes for 22 yards.
Their combined statisticsโeight completions in 25 attempts for 61 yards and four interceptions, a 1.6 quarterback rating.
The bright side is the Broncos only lost 27-10 to Dallas.
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