The Ten Worst Postseason Quarterbacks in NFL History

[JuggernautJ]

This is a strange topic...
I think (especially nowadays) you have to be a pretty good QB to make it to the playoffs... not to mention play in 4 playoff games.

I don't know that these guys belong in any "worst" category but the two QBs in recent memory who were perhaps the most disappointing (to me) might be Jim Kelly and Donovan McNabb.

Kelly has a 72.3 QB rating for his playoffs... and we know how disappointing his final games could be.
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... llJi00.htm

McNabb has a slightly better rating (80) but despite 5 NFC championship games and a super bowl never brought home the prize.
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... NaDo00.htm

I don't know if I can agree with Blanda being on this list. Sure, he had some (really, really) lousy games but he won two AFL championships. Still, a career playoff rating of 42.4 doesn't help my argument...
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... anGe00.htm

Poor Y.A. For as great as he was in the regular season... well, a 33.8 rating in the playoff says a lot.
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... ttY.00.htm

[JohnH19]

Regarding Tittle; bad weather, great defenses and an injured knee can wreak havoc on a QB’s effectiveness.

[Bryan]

If you are going to have Tittle at #1, you should at least have Bobby Layne on the list, perhaps as 1a? 1 TD, 12 INTs, 29.9 rating (worse than Tittle's).

Dan Fouts was good for a postseason implosion once a year, but he also has his 1981 divisional game so maybe that saves him from this list.

I think the weather really hurts the pre-SB era QBs. You'd usually have just one postseason game for the year, and it was usually played in a northern city in the middle of winter. I remember Aaron Schatz and his FO group wrote an article about how the concept of 'clutch QB play' didn't really exist, and they listed the 10 best postseason QB games alongside the 10 worst postseason QB games. You had guys like David Woodley on the 'best' list, and guys like Norm Van Brocklin on the 'worst' list. The conclusion Schatz drew was that the postseason is a crapshoot, but if you actually looked at the lists, there was one obvious factor....the 10 best games were either in a dome or in warm weather, and the 10 worst games were in sub-arctic conditions. Funny stuff.

[conace21]

Pete only started two postseason games. The minimum for the OP list was 4.

Duh...thanks for the correction. How about Lamonica then? Maybe injuries in two of his PO games give him a pass?

Not Lamonica. In the 20th century, quarterbacks threw 5 or more touchdown passes in a playoff game on 5 separate occasions. Montana and Young each did it in the Super Bowl, Sid Luckman did it in the championship game vs Washington...and Lamonica did it twice. He has 19 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in his postseason career.

[JohnR]

I was narrowing my critique of Lamonica to the big games he lost, not the wins that preceded them. Sorry Daryle!

[TanksAndSpartans]

If you are going to have Tittle at #1, you should at least have Bobby Layne on the list, perhaps as 1a? 1 TD, 12 INTs, 29.9 rating (worse than Tittle's).

Layne's teams were 3-1 in those games though. Two of them resulted in NFL championships. I don't think statistics tell the whole story. The last was a blowout loss in which he threw 6 picks, but a three-peat against that Browns team would have been really tough, so I'd give him a pass for one bad game and I wouldn't have him on the list.

[Bryan]

If you are going to have Tittle at #1, you should at least have Bobby Layne on the list, perhaps as 1a? 1 TD, 12 INTs, 29.9 rating (worse than Tittle's).

Layne's teams were 3-1 in those games though. Two of them resulted in NFL championships. I don't think statistics tell the whole story. The last was a blowout loss in which he threw 6 picks, but a three-peat against that Browns team would have been really tough, so I'd give him a pass for one bad game and I wouldn't have him on the list.

Going in to that 1954 title game, Buddy Parker's Lions were 7-0 against the Browns (2-0 postseason, 2-0 regular season, 3-0 preseason FWIW). Those Lions teams were immensely talented. I'm not sure what the betting line was for that game, but I would think the Lions would be favored. The Lions actually ran the ball well against the Browns in the 1954 title game, and they outgained the Browns in total offense 331-303, but Layne's 7 turnovers were a factor.

Everyone remembers Layne's TD pass to Jim Doran in 1953, but I think it's interesting how terrible Layne was in the postseason aside from that last drive in 53. I don't really think Layne is an instance of "one bad game" skewing the data, it's more of a case of Layne never having a good game (and his 1952 playoff against the Rams was another 'bad game', too). The Lions won in the postseason with defense and by controlling the line of scrimmage.

[TanksAndSpartans]

I guess I didn't make my point that well because you thought I was emphasizing that Layne's one bad game skewed the data. I was more saying that I wouldn't let Layne's poor individual statistics (mostly accumulated in one of the games) outweigh the outcome which was that his team won two out of three championships against a team many consider to be one of the historically great teams (Otto Graham played in a championship game in each of his 10 seasons). I've read interviews with the former players and my impression was there was a lot of confidence in Layne - they believed they would win with him. That combined with the outcomes (3-1) keeps him out of this discussion in my opinion.