Who is the best quarterback ever?

Sammy Baugh was considered the best QB of his time (1937-52). Otto Graham (1946-55) won 3 NFL titles plus all 4 AAFC titles. But Graham was often downgraded for having Paul Brown call his plays. It might surprise some younger fans, but before the 1970's, nearly all pro QB's called their own plays.

It was Johnny Unitas who was the first QB to be universally considered the "Best Ever" from the late 50's. The 1958 Sudden Death NFL Title game had an enormous impact.

Norm Van Brocklin (1949-60) was one of the first great long passers. Van Brocklin was the first QB to take two different teams (1951 Rams and 1960 Eagles) to championships. The 1960 Philadelphia Eagles are thought to have been the weakest team ever to win the NFL Championship. Van Brocklin's arm won for them, beating Lombardi's Packers in the title game. It was the only title game Lombardi lost.

Bart Starr was the QB on 5 NFL Champions including the first two Super Bowls. Starr played better in big games than Unitas did.

Y.A. Tittle, Sonny Jurgensen, Fran Tarkenton, Dan Fouts, and Dan Marino had great careers, but never won the Championship. Joe Montana played his best win it counted the most. No QB is great unless he can hit the pass he MUST hit.

Peyton Manning will likely have all the records. At least two more Super Bowl wins would make him the Best Ever. Last year, I wrote on the Forum before the 2006 playoffs that it was past time for Manning to come up big in the Playoffs. He finally did.
 
Peyton did well last playoffs, but he still didn't perform as brilliantly as he does in the regular season. Tom Brady always comes up big in big games the way Joe Montana did. Brady gets better when it counts the most against top teams.

I will be surprised if the Patriots don't win the big game this year now that Brady has Moss and Welker. We'll see, if Payton can get two more SuperBowls and perform brilliantly in one of them I may give him the nod. Peyton is well on his way to becoming the best QB in history by a regular season standpoint
 
Poacher said:
Marino was the best pure passer but I would take Montana overall.

Marty Schottenheimer once said that if he had one game to win he would want Joe Montana as his QB but that if he had one play to win a game he would want John Elway. Always liked that answer.
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That about sums up my opinion. Marino was the greatest passer, but Montana was the greatest winner, and money in the clutch.

Haven't seen Terry Bradshaw mentioned. Four super bowl rings and a very long running highlight reel. Overcame dumb hick label and a very poor start to his career. Gotta include Terry on any all time list.
 
Fran Tarkenton. I may be biased as I grew up watching Fran at a very young age. He may not have won any superbowls, but he went to three in just a handful of years that he played on a team that had a chance. When he retired, he held every single mentionable quarterback record. He is also in my opinion the ONLY quarterback that truly "scrambled." He was a great team leader and great in the clutch. He gets my vote.
 
Namath changed the passing game. He was the first to come along with a rifle arm. Before him, nobody had ever seen a ball thrown like he did. Bad knees did him in.

Bert Jones of the old Baltimore Colts was the best QB I ever saw on some of the worst teams ever fielded.

Best QB overall? I'd say Marino. You just couldn't sack him.

Tom Iron...
 
Mike Vick. He is the best athlete to ever play the position and revolutionized it forever.

Drunk white fans will always say that Black QBs can't win but this guy just proves that no matter how many people doubt them that all Black QBs do is win championships, as is evidenced by Vick's ongoing success.
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Edited by: TorontoArgos
 
I've got to go with Tarkenton as (at least) the best QB who never won a title. He broke those passing records playing a shorter season, under rules *not* designed to favor the passing game, and he did it playing mostly in mud and snow.
 
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