boomboomsroom

Yesterday part two of our Super Bowl worst, best, first, and last series rolled on.  We offered our opinion on who the worst quarterbacks were to win a Super Bowl.  Doug Williams took home first place.  Unfortunately first meant worst for the former Grambling St. hero.

Super Bowl winners come in different shapes and sizes, but they usually have two things in common.  One, they have a real good or great coach.  And two, they have a real good or great quarterback.  There are outliers of course.  So, who might be those outliers?

We continue to examine those very questions in part three of our series.  Today we examine the question “who is the worst quarterback to start and lose a Super Bowl?”  Our take from bad to worse is below.

The competition for this (dis)honor is surprisingly strong.  Honorable mentions and yellow spirit ribbons go to……..

…Billy Kilmer for being the most out of shape and for throwing more ducks than fly in south Louisiana in the fall.

…Chris Chandler for lasting 17 years in the league, but having seven different teams let him walk to the next one.

…Tony Eason who threw for a measly 11k yards in 9 years in the league and getting Super Bowl shuffled and pulverized by the 1986 Chicago Bears.

The envelopes for third to worst please.

3.  Vince Ferragamo- Ferragamo gave it his all v. Terry Bradshaw and the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1979 before losing 31-19.  The third round pick of the Rams, Ferragamo was 27-26 as a starter throwing for 11k yards in an otherwise undistinguished career.  He threw more interceptions, 91, than touchdowns, 76.  His career passer rating of 70.1 places him 151st all-time, just a hair ahead of the one and only Joey Harrington.  Whew.

2.  Rex Grossman- Grossman and the out manned Chicago Bears lost to Indianapolis in the 2006 Super Bowl.  Peyton Manning won his first of two SB’s in an otherwise forgettable contest.  For his career he was only 25-22 as a starter that somehow lasted 10 years in the league.  He too tossed more in his time to the other team, 60, than he threw for touchdowns to his own team, 56.  His career completion percentage was 55.2%.  Given that he played until 2012 when many helpful rules and protections are afforded QB’s makes that inaccuracy hard to believe.  Whew.  He must have carried a mean clipboard.

1. David Woodley-  Woodley was an 8th round pick by the Miami Dolphins in 1980 when the league still had 12 rounds.  He played for a brief 6 years in the NFL, only two as a starter, and compiled stats befitting of an 8th rounder.   A 53 percent completion percentage, 8k total passing yards, 48 tds, and 63 picks add up to a QB rating of 65.7.  Billy Joe Tolliver is two points better.  Woodley and his Dolphins lost to Joe Theisman’s Redskins in SB XVII 27-17.  Woodley, true to his NFL form,  was 4-17 for 80 yards and an interception in that contest. Whew.  Seventy six of those yards came on one pass play.  A short three years later Woodley retired from the NFL before the NFL could retire him.

As we stated yesterday, no NFL level quarterback is actually bad.  But, how these three found their way to a Super Bowl reminds us of the proverbial blind squirrel finding a runners up Super Bowl ring.   Or, something like that.