Favre Not Alone Among Great Quarterbacks with less than Favorable Finishes
By Dale Jellings, January 29, 2010
Ever since Brett Favre was forced out of Green Bay by an egotistical, myopic GM, there has been a faction of Packer fans who were waiting for it. For two long seasons, as their former hero led two different teams to better records than their beloved Packers, they assured anyone who would listen that it would happen. Even during a season when he posted his highest completion percentage and lowest interception percentage in his career, they continued to wish for it in earnest.
As he neared the unthinkable, taking the division rival Vikings to the Super Bowl, they became desperate for it, beseeching the football gods to grant them the solace they so rightly deserved for keeping the faith that they had somehow been betrayed.
When bruised and bloodied, forced by fumbling teammates and inept coaches into having to make a bad decision, he finally threw the big interception, the Favre Haters were granted their wish. They could finally say, “I told you so. I told you he’d blow it.”
I suppose booing is a part of what most fans reserve as their right, but it doesn’t show much class. It’s rarely anything to be proud of. And, as in this case, it’s not often an informed or rational decision.
Did Favre blow the big game? Not really. The game ended in a tie. The Vikings lost it in overtime, and it took two very close booth reviews to give the Saints a shot at their own field goal attempt.
All year, Favre had done well to get the Vikings as far as he did in spite of his coach Brad Childress, but he couldn’t overcome running 12 men on the field after a timeout to discuss the most important play of the season. That gave the Vikings a 3rd and 14, and needing to pick up most of that to give Ryan Longwell a decent shot at a field goal. So, on a rollout which they should have run on 2nd down, Brett made a bad throw on a bad decision.
Some have claimed he could have run for five or six yards, but he was that far behind the line of scrimmage when he was rolling out. So, perhaps he could have gotten back to the previous spot, but that’s a wasted play.
Although Longwell may have felt confident in making a 50+ field goal, his chances were 50% at best. He’s 22 of 36 from that range and even more telling, just 59% in all post-season kicks. If he misses, the Saints get the ball with just over 20 yards to go to attempt their own game-winning field goal.
The “I told you so” booing of Favre also ignores the truly amazing accomplishment of a 40 year-old quarterback getting a good, but far from great team into the big game in the first place before he can be accused of blowing it.
In fact, as I gave it some thought, I figured just about every quarterback considered “great” by a consensus of opinionated fans, stat geeks, and sports talk hosts must have blown a big game or two or three and more than likely it might have been their last game.
Here’s what I found among those great QBs who have played their final game:
Dan Marino:
Playoff Record: 8-10 (took team to postseason 10 of his 17 seasons)
Final Game:
AFC Divisional Playoff: 2000-01-15 MIA 7 JAX 62
11-25 95 yds. 1-2
Marino threw for a career-low 95 yards. At one point in the game, he was 0 for 7 with two interceptions and a lost fumble returned for a touchdown. Marino didn't complete his first pass until 10:43 remained in the second quarter. By that time, the Dolphins were behind 38-0 and Jaguars quarterback Mark Brunell was already on the bench.
Marino was benched when the Jags took a 48-7 lead.
Johnny Unitas:
Playoff Record: 6-2 (5/18 postseasons)
Final Game:
Game 8 1973-11-04 SDG 0 KAN 19
1-1 7 yds. 0-0 to Jerry Levias
He spelled rookie Dan Fouts for one series, completing his final NFL pass to Jerry Levias.
His final game with any significant action:
Game 4 1973-10-07 SDG 21 PIT 38
2-9 19 yds. 0-2
Mike Wagner and then Mel Blount intercepted his last passes.
In his final Postseason Game, he was intercepted three times:
1972-01-02 AFC championship: BAL Colts 0 MIA 21
20-36 224 yds. 0-3
In Super Bowl III, although the Colts won, he was intercepted by Chuck Howley and by Mel Renfro who intercepted his last Super Bowl pass.
1971-01-17 BAL 16 DAL 13
3-9 88yds. 1-2
Roger Staubach:
Playoff Record: 11-6 (8/11 postseasons)
Final Game:
NFC championship: 1979-12-30 DAL 19 LA Rams 21
12-28 124 yds. 1-1
Staubach was unable to engineer a fourth quarter comeback like the ones earlier in his career. The Rams defense sacked the Dallas quarterback, and on fourth down, pressured him to throw an illegal forward pass to guard Herbert Scott, the last pass of his career.
Fran Tarkenton:
Playoff Record: 6-5 (5/18 postseasons)
Final Game:
NFC Divisional Playoff: 1978-12-31 MIN 10 LA Rams 34
18-37 219 yds. 1-2
With game tied 10-10 after the first half, Rams safety intercepted Tarkenton twice as the Vikings could muster only 58 total yards in the second half.
Terry Bradshaw:
14-5 (9/14 postseasons)
Game 15--1983-12-10 PIT 34 NYJ 7
5-8 77 yds. 2-0
He missed the first 14 games of the 1983 season after elbow surgery. In Game 15, on his eighth and final NFL pass, a ten yard TD to Calvin Sweeney, he reinjured his elbow and ended his career.
Final postseason:
1982 AFC Divisional Playoff Game 1983-01-09 PIT 28 SDG 31
28-39 325 yds. 2-2
Bradshaw completed 25 of his first 28 passes, including 15 in a row, but threw two interceptions. The first came on the first play after the two-minute warning in the second quarter with the Steelers leading, 14-10. Bruce Laird returned the interception 35 yards and the Chargers drove 64 yards to take their first lead, 17-14.
The last and most costly interception came with 11 minutes to play and the Steelers holding a 28-17 margin. This one was returned by Jeff Allen to the Pittsburgh 29-yard line. The Chargers scored on five plays on a pass to Kellen Winslow. He would hit Winslow again in the game to give the Chargers the victory.
Dan Fouts:
Playoff Record: 3-4 (4/15 postseasons)
Game 14 1987-12-20 SDG 7 IND 20
22-37 257 yds. 0-3
In his last postseason game, he was intercepted five times:
1982 2nd Round Playoff game: 1983-01-16 SDG 13 MIA 34
15-34 191 yds. 1-5
Steve Young:
Playoff Record: 8-6 (7/15 postseasons)
Final Game:
Game 3 1999-09-27 SF 24 ARIZ 10
13-23 92 yds. 1-1
He was knocked out of the game with his 7th and final concussion which ended his career. He would end up playing only three complete seasons without missing at least one game.
Final postseason game:
NFC Divisional Playoff: 1999-01-09 SF 18 ATL 20
23-37 289 yds. 1-3
In the third quarter, after the 49ers had driven to Falcons 3-yard line, Young was intercepted by Eugene Robinson who returned it 77 yards, setting up Morten Andersen's 29-yard field goal. Later in the quarter, the 49ers drove deep into Falcons territory again, only to have Young throw an interception to William White, his first of the game. Morton Andersen kicked his second field goal giving the Falcons a 20-10 lead early in the fourth quarter.
With 2:57 left in the fourth, Young scored on an 8-yard touchdown run. Holder Ty Detmer fumbled the snap on the extra point attempt, but he picked it up and completed a successful a successful 2-point conversion to TE Greg Clark to make the score 20-18. San Francisco managed to force a punt and got the ball back with 34 seconds but no timeouts left. William White's second interception at midfield sealed the victory as time ran out.
Joe Montana:
Playoff Record: 16-7 (11/14 postseasons)
Final Game:
AFC Wild Card 1994-12-31 KCC 17 – MIA 27
26-37 314 yds. 2-1
With Miami leading 27-17 going into the 4th quarter, Montana drove the team to the Miami 5, but he threw an interception to J.B. Brown who returned it to the Miami 24. The Dolphins had to punt, but just as Montana was mounting another drive, Miami safety Michael Stewart stripped the ball from Marcus Allen giving Miami possession at its 34 with just over seven minutes to kill.
Of all the quarterbacks on this list, the two who went out with the least to regret about their final performances are Bart Starr and John Elway. Starr had a decent final game to finish a final season where he was fighting injuries and splitting time with rookie Scott Hunter. His final postseason game was the second Super Bowl in which he won his second consecutive MVP award.
Bart Starr:
9-1 playoff Record (6/16 postseasons)
Final Game:
Game 14: 1971-12-19 GNB 6 MIA 27
13-22 126 yds. 0-0
Final Postseason Game:
Super Bowl II:
1967 1968-01-14 GNB 33 OAK 14
13-24 202 yds. 1-0
John Elway
Elway’s career culminated in a storybook finish as he led the Broncos to their second consecutive Super Bowl win and won the game's MVP award. His 14 playoff victories are second only to Montana.
14-8 playoff record (9/16 postseasons)
Final Game:
Super Bowl XXXIII:
1999-01-31 DEN 34 ATL 19
18-29 336 yds. 1-1 and ran for a TD and was named Super Bowl MVP.
Even in games where the Broncos were being trounced, he only had a couple relatively bad games:
Super Bowl XXII - Washington Redskins 42, Denver Broncos 10
Elway started at quarterback. He completed 14 of 38 passes for 257 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. He also had three rushes for 32 yards.
Super Bowl XXIV - San Francisco 49ers 55, Denver Broncos 10
Elway started at quarterback. He completed 10 of 26 passes for 108 yards and two interceptions. He also had four rushes for eight yards and one touchdown.
Brett Favre:
13-11 playoff record (12/19 postseasons)
NFC champ game: 2010-01-24 MIN 28 NOS 31 (OT)
28-46 310 yds. 1-2
None of this changes the fact that Brett Favre sometimes tried to do too much on his own and often made imperfect plays in the clutch. However, he is the only NFL quarterback to play in as many as 12 postseasons and in 24 postseason games.
Moreover, it gauls Favre Haters to no end that his jersey is still no. 1 in sales across the country. He is the only player ever to have his jersey from two different teams place #1 and #2 in the same season. It galls them that Viking fans came out of game blaming Childress more than Favre.
As close as I can figure, the hating has something to do with the belief that if a guy changes his mind about his career, he must be disingenuous or insincere. I have heard this grievance from car salesmen who have sold cars for three different dealerships in the same town; from lawyers who switched law firms, and from numerous individuals who went back to school for totally different careers. Each was as genuine about their decisions as I suspect Favre was about his.
Many of them tell me it’s about being a Packer Fan. Yet when I remind them that Brett made an effort to finish his career in Green Bay only to have the door closed in his face, they blame their former hero and side instead with a GM who has no track record of success or any recent evidence he will ever have any.
Just as with the other great quarterbacks on this list, Favre’s mistakes will fade with time eclipsed by the enormity of his accomplishments: 285 consecutive starts by a position player (309 counting playoff games); 194 career victories as a starting QB, 541 career TDs, 75, 184 career passing yards and 6564 career completions including postseason games. He is the only QB to win a game against each of the 32 NFL teams.