The Greatest Quarterback Ever
By Aaron Nagler on Jan 26, 2010 with 176 Comments
Before the Favre post below devolves into another hundred comments about a completely different subject, I thought I’d give the subject in question its own post:
Who is the greatest quarterback to ever play the game?
For me, the argument begins and ends with Johnny Unitas.
As I said below, he, and all the guys who played before the NFL greatly liberalized the passing rules, operated in a much more difficult offensive environment than his modern counterparts. Unitas called his own plays and was Brett Favre-tough before there was the ESPN-ification of sports to pump up his toughness into some mythical talisman that sears itself into our collective consciousness.
Yes, there are plenty of great ‘modern’ quarterbacks. Montana tops my list there followed closely by Peyton Manning. Of course there are the usual suspects like Elway and Marino. But I also loved watching guys like Dan Fouts and Warren Moon, guys who never get mentioned in these types of conversations, though they should be.
So how ’bout it Cheeshead Nation? What the hell, it’s the offseason. We can go off topic a bit, right? Tell us who your pick is for the Greatest Quarterback Ever and why in the comment section below.
And please note: Anyone answering “Brett Favre” will have their commenting privileges revoked for a year.
Filed Under: NFL • Quarterback play • quarterback
Arnie Herber who, along with Don Hutson and Blood McNally, originated modern passing football, except they did it when the rules weren’t as kind to QB’s as Montana, Unitas, Manning, et. al. now enjoy. Herber / Hutson are football’s version of Lennon / McCartney
Pack66, I think the time has come for you to come out of the closet. The constant obsession with everyone’s gayness, the phallocentrism, the vitriol–all of this points to a crisis of sexual identity.
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It’s totally okay that you want to suck Favre’s dick. He’s really hot. And when his ego isn’t getting in the way, he’s really charismatic. It’s totally natural.
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If you accept that fact, you can move past it. You won’t need to justify your obsession by masking it in the language of football fandom. Once you accept that your pain and sense of betrayal at collective Packers fandom having dethroned Favre is rooted in your unresolved sexual desire for a man who has become the quarterback of the hated Minnesota Vikings, you will be free. You’ll no longer have to justify your feelings because you’ll realize that sexual drive is a thing separate from football loyalty. The fact that Favre turns you on will become separate from the fact that he’s a Viking. You won’t have to cover your sexual feelings with some fabricated sports-based loyalty to the man. You’ll be free and much happier.
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Brother, I wish you luck.
I completely understand what you are saying PFIET…you’re saying that if you didn’t see a player play then you are basing your opinion more on second hand accounts of what others are saying than your own first hand knowledge…You never said that the old school quarterbacks couldn’t be considered great you said that anyone who didn’t see them play is a fraud if they try to argue that though which I feel is assinine…I’d even agree with you that everthing else being equal someone who was alive during the 50s would be better able to judge a player from the 50s than I would…but to say that my opinion is invalid and an attempt to be a knowitall because I didn’t live in that era is wrong
P.S. I love how it’s everyone else’s reading comprehension that is the problem. If everyone who reads what you wrote is having ”comprehension” issues its more likely to be the the poor writing and faulty logic of the writer than EVERYBODY else’s reading….the topper for that is the ”I love how everyone is putting words in my mouth and saying….” and then in the next sentence saying EXACTLY what was ”being put in your mouth”
Cold Hard Football facts had Bart Starr at the top of their list last year. I’ll accept their analysis.
I think PiedmontPackerFan sums it up beautifully
Growing up as a Cowboys fan, I have some loyalty to Roger Staubach. Although he probably isn’t the greatest of all time, he is pretty damn close. Danny White was also a great QB and is often underrated. He was also the punter, so 4th downs were always fun because you never knew if he was going to kick, run or throw.
There have been so many great quarterbacks that played on crappy teams that don’t get the respect they deserve as well. Dan Fouts may have been great if he had played on a better team.
I’m going to say my best QB of all time is Don Meredith. He was BF before BF was BF. He wasn’t always perfect but he loved the game, got beat to hell and went into every huddle singing. Plus, who doesn’t love iced tea?
I am skipping over the 166 comments that I am predicting devolved into Favre discussion and offer my best quarterback of all time: Joe Montana.
There are indeed cases for Unitas and for Starr. Also, certainly for Brady and Manning and others.
Montana was ice-water in the veins. While Starr was an error-free piece of the Lombardi puzzle, Montana clearly elevated the level of play of whatever talent he had around him. Sure, he had Jerry Rice….but not for his first Super Bowl.
I’ve had this debate so many times over the years, I’ve lost count. But in the end, it comes down to what you prioritize as your criteria for “the best”. For some, it is statistics. For others, it is number of rings. For still others, it is wins, intangibles, etc.
Mine is pure leadership in the clutch. I’ll take Montana over any other.
OK, I concede that calling one a fraud is a bit much, but it does hold VALID points to my argument. You CAN NOT say someone is the best EVER if you have never witnessed them play other than a few SELECTIVE old videos. If you do then you come off as a bit of a fraud to me, pretending to know about something you really don’t…
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I think you have some reading comprehension issues if you couldn’t figure out what I meant from my first post in this thread. Its really that simple, but YOU & OTHERS CAN keep on spinning it to fit your agenda if you like. Keep trying though… It seems that you may have a bit of a guilty conscience… Have you been vouching for the likes of Otto Graham & so on knowing deep down inside that you don’t know what you’re talking about?…
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I remember cranking up the Model-A and havin the Miss’s pack a lunch and dinner for the drive down to Decatur, Ill to watch the Staleys and o’l Jimmy Conzelman throwing passes around with George Trafton under center in 1920. He was great until he blew out his knee in 1928 and we had to shoot him. Ah, them was the good o’l days.
Brett Favre.
You guys are all a bunch of lame’o's!
If #4 was still your quarterback, you would’ve ALL answered with his name and you KNOW IT!
Pathetic.
I said it BEFORE he came to Minnesota, and I’ll say it again.. BRETT FAVRE IS THE BEST QUARTERBACK OF ALL TIME!
He’s the most entertaining to watch, by far, over any other team.
I’ve told ya’ll before, when he was your quarterback, I was rooting for your team EVERYTIME you guys played someone besides the Vikes. And even when you DID play us, I still admired Favre’s cdapabilities and respected his talent….which is something that all of you seem to have a lack of…Respect.
Admire the man 4 what he did. And no matter how painful the Vikings loss was for me to watch, and however many times I screamed, “Why did you throw that ball?!!” at the TV set….I STILL admired him for taking that illegal hit that he took, getting his ankle tapped up, and getting right back out there and giving it his best effort…especially at his age.
Again I say, “It’s all about RESPECT”
Ya’ll wanna see good sportsmanship, like Favre has shown CONTINUALLY?? Watch this:
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GO SAINTS!!!!!!
Cuphound,
I think you’re talking about yourself and “Ted Thompson”…He’s the one who share your “proclivities”….
Other than that, I don’t know what the hell you are talking about. The guy who gets his “balls washed” the most on this site is Ted Thompson, followed by Aaron Rodgers, a close second….
i hope a lot of people read this.. but you do know.. when favre was a packer he took the team to the super bowl twice… im not saying he is the greatest to ever play the game.. but you guys are wayy to hard on him he got the packers a ring.. almost two in two years.. winning a super bowl isnt something a lot of quarterbacks do. going to two super bowls two seasons in a row isnt something a lot of quarterbacks get to do either… you say history shouldnt be kind to favre.. but how many other quarterbacks win super bowl rings? most of them dont.. he might have thrown some picks in big games… nd choked a few times but you forget the past to quickly he did a lot for our team… and its unbelieveable you would so quickly throw that away simply because of some poor decisions he made as a old man…
andrew…” when favre was a packer he took the team to the super bowl twice ”
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He was a huge part of those teams, no doubt. Don’t discredit those defenses & special teams the Packers had for those 2 years. They were VERY GOOD & one could argue that those Ds & STs were just as much the reason for the Packers going to those 2 SBs as Favre & the rest of the offensive players were. Some people try VERY hard to make Favre out to be the sole reason for GBs Super Bowl teams, but that just isn’t true. Not saying you’re one of them. Just trying to make a point. After all football is the ultimate team sport.
Pack Fan in Enemy Territory…
A few years ago, (2007), Favre took a MEDIOCRE team to the NFC Championship game where his TEAM took a big ole SH*T around him and SUCKED the whole game…
Yet, who do you LOSERS blame that game on ?
Andrew is right..YOu are a bunch of friggin’ ingrates who I hope do not return to the SB for another 30 years…
It’s what you a-holes deserve….and ALOT of people feel that way about Packer “fans”….
[...] When I get like this it always seems to come back to Nagler. He wrote a piece on the best quarterback in NFL history. Nagler came to the decision that Johnny Unitas should hold that distinction. Now he may be right, [...]
Pack66… Are you really that stupid. HE WAS TALKING ABOUT THE SUPER BOWL YEARS. I was making a point. Besides, what the hell are you doing here if you hate the Packers so much. Enough already, move along, let the real Packer fans discuss their favorite team. You obviously aren’t one of them, so on the risk of being redundant… WHY DO YOU KEEP COMING HERE & DISRUPTING THIS BLOG WITH YOUR HATEFUL NONSENSE?