Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Earl Morral took over for an injured Johnny Unitas and led the 1968 Colts to a 13-1 record, and an appearance in Super Bowl III where they lost to Joe Namath and the Jets.

Didn't Morral repeat the feat with the Dolphins? And wasn't Kurt Warner also a backup, when he led the Rams to a Super Bowl Championship?

How many other back-up QBs have led their teams to a Super Bowl appearance or title?

And I think Tom Brady's first Super Bowl appearance came in relief of Drew Bledsoe, if I'm not mistaken.

Jeff Hostetler led the Giants to a Super Bowl win after Phil Simms went down. If I recall correctly, it was the Buffalo Bills who had knocked Simms out for the season, then lost to his replacement in the Super Bowl.

Doug Williams started the 1987 season as a backup to Jay Schroeder, but wound up as the starter by the end of the season and through the playoffs, culminating with the Super Bowl win against Denver. And I think Jim Plunkett began the season as a backup with the Raiders in 1980 and/or 1983.

In 1970, Roger Staubach started the first three games before Craig Morton took over and eventually started in SB V. The following year, Staubach and Morton rotated starts in the first six games before the infamous every-other-play QB switch in the 10/31 Bears game. Staubach then took over for good.

The following year, Sonny Jurgensen started games 4-7 before Billy Kilmer took over.

Depending on interpretation, you could say that Joe Kapp for the Vikings in SB IV and Terry Bradshaw for the Steelers in SB IX were backup QBs, as Gary Cuozzo and Joe Gilliam began those seasons as the starting QB.

It kind of worked the wrong way around for the Patriots in SB XX. Tony Eason was the starting QB, but Steve Grogan took over after Eason got hurt. The Pats were 2-3 at the point and they won 6 straight under Grogan. Eason then returned and they were 3-2 the rest of the way.

With Eason still starting, they pretty much focused on their running in the playoffs. Eason threw a total of only 41 passes in their three wins.

After Eason failed to complete any of his first 6 passes in the SB, Grogan replaced him again. But nobody was going to beat the Bears that day.

Bryan wrote:Depending on interpretation, you could say that Joe Kapp for the Vikings in SB IV and Terry Bradshaw for the Steelers in SB IX were backup QBs, as Gary Cuozzo and Joe Gilliam began those seasons as the starting QB.

Cuozzo being on the losing end of the '69 opener and Kapp's first game answer of throwing seven touchdown passes against the Colts pretty much sealed the deal.

Billy Kilmer began the 1972 season; I don't know if he was injured, or if Sonny Jurgensen just was coming back from injury, but Sonny played four games before breaking his leg. Kilmer led the Dolphins the rest of the way to the Super Bowl.

Vince Ferragammo
Trent Dilfer, the lone winner on my list.
Jake Delhomme; who replaced Rodney Peete at halftime of the season opener.
Colin Kaepernick
Honorable mention to Frank Reich who won the first two playoff games in 1992 before giving way to Jim Kelly in the AFC title game. Reich then replaced Kelly in the second quarter. I believe Kelly and Joe Kapp are the only starting QB's to be knocked out of the Super Bowl.

conace21 wrote:Billy Kilmer began the 1972 season; I don't know if he was injured, or if Sonny Jurgensen just was coming back from injury, but Sonny played four games before breaking his leg. Kilmer led the Dolphins the rest of the way to the Super Bowl.

Kilmer was just benched in favor of Jurgensen, after the Redskins played a couple of bad games -- including a loss to New England, I think, which may have been the one that prompted the change. And just for the record, Jurgensen didn't break his leg; that happened in 1971, during an exhibition game, and forced him to miss most of the season. In 1972 he tore his Achilles tendon on the first play of a game against the Giants. It was one of those fluky Achilles injuries: Nobody hit him, he didn't stumble or anything, just completed a pass to Charley Taylor for 13 yards or so. But when the camera came back to Jurgensen, he was hopping on one leg, and then he limped off with his arms around the shoulders of two teammates and was through for the season.