List of National Football League quarterback playoff records
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The first official National Football League (NFL) playoff game was the 1933 NFL Championship Game between the Chicago Bears and New York Giants. A "playoff" game was played in 1932 between the Chicago Bears and Portsmouth Spartans to break a regular season tie, but is recorded in the team record books as a regular season game.[1] Since then there have been a total over 525 NFL playoff games including games from the AFL, but not the AAFC. The following list shows career postseason records for each starting quarterback in the NFL playoffs.
Wins or losses are credited to the quarterback who started the game for each team, even if he was injured or failed to complete the game.
While many players have won playoff games for two teams, only two have won a championship for different franchises. Tobin Rote was quarterback for the NFL champion 1957 Lions and the AFL champion 1963 Chargers. Peyton Manning was the quarterback for 2006 Colts and the 2015 Broncos.
Note: from 1933–1949 some offenses did not employ a quarterback in the modern sense of the position. Listed below are the "primary passers" for those games, the players that passed the ball most in those games. They may not have actually started the game at quarterback. This format allows Hall of Fame quarterbacks like Sid Luckman and Sammy Baugh to maintain credit for their team's playoff records since they were obviously the top passer for their team. The players involved in such games are marked with an asterisk (*).
Champion starters
Tom Brady holds the NFL record for most playoff wins by a quarterback with 27, the record for most playoff games started (37). Joe Flacco holds the record for most post-season road wins by a quarterback, with 7. For players with 5 or more playoff appearances, Bart Starr holds the record for the highest winning percentage, (.900) and is tied for the record for most championships (5 NFL titles plus 2 Super Bowl wins vs. AFL teams) with Tom Brady who has won 5 Super Bowls to this point in his career. Six quarterbacks are undefeated in post-season play but all of them have just a single appearance as a starter except for Frank Reich who had two starts. Hall of Fame quarterback Y. A. Tittle shares the record with Andy Dalton for the highest number of playoff starts without ever winning a game (4). John Elway holds the record for the highest number of playoff wins before eventually winning his first Super Bowl (10). Donovan McNabb and Jim Kelly hold the record for the highest number of playoff wins (9) without winning the Super Bowl.
The following 54 quarterbacks have led their team to an NFL or American Football League (AFL) title. Super Bowls before the 1970 AFL–NFL merger are not included in total championship count.
† is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame
| Bold denotes an active player | ^ Won with 2 teams |
| Rank | Quarterback | Team | NFL Championships | Super Bowls |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bart Starr† | Packers | 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1967 | 1966, 1967 |
| Tom Brady | Patriots | 2001, 2003, 2004, 2014, 2016 | ||
| 3 | Sid Luckman*† | Bears | 1940, 1941, 1943, 1946 | |
| Terry Bradshaw† | Steelers | 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979 | ||
| Joe Montana† | 49ers | 1981, 1984, 1988, 1989 | ||
| 6 | Otto Graham† | Browns | 1950, 1954, 1955 | |
| Johnny Unitas† | Colts | 1958, 1959 | 1970 | |
| Len Dawson† | Dallas Texans Chiefs |
AFL 1962, 1966, 1969 | 1969 | |
| Troy Aikman† | Cowboys | 1992, 1993, 1995 | ||
| 10 | Ed Danowski* | Giants | 1934, 1938 | |
| Arnie Herber *† | Packers | 1936, 1939 | ||
| Sammy Baugh *† | Redskins | 1937, 1942 | ||
| Bob Waterfield*† | Rams | 1945, 1951 | ||
| Tommy Thompson* | Eagles | 1948, 1949 | ||
| Bobby Layne† | Lions | 1952, 1953 | ||
| Tobin Rote ^ | Lions | 1957 | ||
| Chargers | AFL 1963 | |||
| George Blanda† | Oilers | AFL 1960, 1961 | ||
| Jack Kemp | Bills | AFL 1964, 1965 | ||
| Roger Staubach† | Cowboys | 1971, 1977 | ||
| Bob Griese† | Dolphins | 1972, 1973 | ||
| Jim Plunkett | Raiders | 1980, 1983 | ||
| John Elway† | Broncos | 1997, 1998 | ||
| Ben Roethlisberger | Steelers | 2005, 2008 | ||
| Peyton Manning ^ | Colts | 2006 | ||
| Broncos | 2015 | |||
| Eli Manning | Giants | 2007, 2011 | ||
| 26 | Carl Brumbaugh* | Bears | 1933 | |
| Glenn Presnell* | Lions | 1935 | ||
| Irv Comp * | Packers | 1944 | ||
| Paul Christman * | Cardinals | 1947 | ||
| Don Heinrich | Giants | 1956 | ||
| Norm Van Brocklin† | Eagles | 1960 | ||
| Bill Wade | Bears | 1963 | ||
| Frank Ryan | Browns | 1964 | ||
| Daryle Lamonica | Raiders | AFL 1967 | ||
| Earl Morrall | Colts | 1968 | ||
| Joe Namath† | Jets | AFL 1968 | 1968 | |
| Joe Kapp | Vikings | 1969 | ||
| Ken Stabler† | Raiders | 1976 | ||
| Joe Theismann | Redskins | 1982 | ||
| Jim McMahon | Bears | 1985 | ||
| Phil Simms | Giants | 1986 | ||
| Doug Williams | Redskins | 1987 | ||
| Jeff Hostetler | Giants | 1990 | ||
| Mark Rypien | Redskins | 1991 | ||
| Steve Young† | 49ers | 1994 | ||
| Brett Favre† | Packers | 1996 | ||
| Kurt Warner† | Rams | 1999 | ||
| Trent Dilfer | Ravens | 2000 | ||
| Brad Johnson | Buccaneers | 2002 | ||
| Drew Brees | Saints | 2009 | ||
| Aaron Rodgers | Packers | 2010 | ||
| Joe Flacco | Ravens | 2012 | ||
| Russell Wilson | Seahawks | 2013 | ||
| Nick Foles | Eagles | 2017 |
References
- ↑ "1932 Chicago Bears". Pro football reference.com. Retrieved November 13, 2013.