All-time Franchise Altering QBs

[davegilbertson]

I've always had the view that QB, while vital and central piece of a team's success, cannot lift a garbage franchise to championship levels of success without a supporting cast, as well as a solid infrastructure (coaching/management/ownership group)

Some of this is spurred by the "but look at all the weapons Purdy has!" Mahomes stepped into just as an ideal situation, obviously his raw talent gave him an edge, as did his production. Hurts plays for a very solid Eagles team. Cincinnati, while historically nothing to write much about is not devoid of talent at key positions and on both sides of the ball.

Is it the fault of the first pick qb unable to turnaround the Browns, Raiders or Jets? Or is the problem more systemic?

Found this video as I pondered the question myself:

 

[tzjung]

I chose Joe Montana, but I was leaning Tom Brady initially. But honestly, Drew Bledsoe and Bill Parcels already started the improvement process from the depths of awful that was the Patriots in the 80's.

Montana is the choice because of where the franchise was coming from and then he had the most successful decade ever at QB after going to the Niners.

 

[CYCLNST8]

You have to give the corresponding coaches a lot of credit. Brady & Manning are the only quarterbacks to bring Lombardi trophies to multiple franchises.

 

[houjix]

Pats were in the SB in 1996 and made the playoffs in 5 of the 6 years before Brady got drafted. Not sure he qualifies as turning around a struggling franchise in NE as much as taking them to new heights. (Although Brady did turn around the struggling Bucs for a bit anyway) Broncos were kinda the same by the time Elway got there. They were bad in the year before Elway, but generally a solid to playoff level team going back to the mid-70's.

Favre broke a 10 year GB playoff drought and led the team to it's first SB in 30 years.
Manning lifted a Colts team that had brief success with Jim Harbaugh, but had generally been bad for 15+ years and no SB for 35 years. And then he stopped (temporarily) the Broncos from their slide into also-ran status for 5 years and brought them another SB, although a lot that was due to the defense.
Montana took over a SF team on a 10 year drought to heights only exceeded by Brady. Had he took KC to the SB, his legend would have grown even bigger, but KC was already building sustained success before he arrived..
Brees barely broke through once for the Chargers before took over a mostly middling NO team that only had one playoff appearance in 12 years to their only SB.

It's close between Manning and Montana for turning true struggles into success, but I'd go with Montana based on end results.

 

[Scruff]

You have to give the corresponding coaches a lot of credit. Brady & Manning are the only quarterbacks to bring Lombardi trophies to multiple franchises.

These two showed me it's easier to win an extra championship by jumping teams.

I love Manning and the Colts, but he wasn't going to win another with the Colts. He moved to a Denver team with a stacked defense and run game, where they won him another. I say that as a massive Manning fan.

Patriots were entering cap space hell and Brady knew it. I don't believe he was winning another there. Moved to a team that was ready and had people jump out of retirement to help him. Now it looks like he'll never win another with the Bucs, but if he were to move to a team like San Fran then you bet he could get another!

 

[CYCLNST8]

These two showed me it's easier to win an extra championship by jumping teams.

I love Manning and the Colts, but he wasn't going to win another with the Colts. He moved to a Denver team with a stacked defense and run game, where they won him another. I say that as a massive Manning fan.

Patriots were entering cap space hell and Brady knew it. I don't believe he was winning another there. Moved to a team that was ready and had people jump out of retirement to help him. Now it looks like he'll never win another with the Bucs, but if he were to move to a team like San Fran then you bet he could get another!

Maybe Elway deserves more credit then. Gets blown out of multiple Super Bowls in his youth and ends with a couple trophies in the twilight of his career.

 

[ricochet]

I’d put Kurt Warner on the list for dragging the Cardinals to a Super Bowl even though they didn’t win. Other than the Lions is there a better example of a struggling franchise over the past 40 years than the Cardinals?

 

[JP4CY]

The Bills were pretty effing terrible before Jim Kelly.

 

[FerShizzle]

I chose Elway over Brady.

That Denver team was bad. New England was already starting to turn the corner. He carried the load by himself many of the years. Multiple head coaches came and went. You could argue that Bill Bs system and coaching had as much to do with the dynasty aspect of New England as Brady did. Not the case in Denver.

2 Super Bowl wins at QB
1 Super Bowl win as team president

 

[DrClone]

Dan Marino

 

[VeloClone]

Kurt Warner? Weren't the Rams something ridiculous like 4-12 the year before he inherited the starting QB position and took them to the Super Bowl?

 

[BMWallace]

Kurt Warner? Weren't the Rams something ridiculous like 4-12 the year before he inherited the starting QB position and took them to the Super Bowl?

The year Kurt took over for the injured Trent Green, the Rams had just brought on Mike Martz as OC, signed Marshall Faulk, and drafted Tory Holt. And the team ended up with 7 Pro Bowlers. Kurt definitely helped, but he as even said himself that the team was set up to do well with Green at QB, and Warner was able to make the best of his opportunity.

I might credit him more for the success in Arizona. He lead the Cardinals to their only SB in franchise history, and orchestrated one of the greatest 4th comeback in NFL history, only to get one-upped by by an even greater final drive by Big Ben and Santonio Holmes.

 

[exCyDing]

This is a really tough one, mostly because there's so much more to it than just the QB.

First, I'm going to eliminate Brees, Favre and Manning. Not enough SB appearances/titles for Brees or Favre to really be in the conversation with the others. Manning was absolute liability the year he won it with the Broncos - their defense was good enough to overcome him running the offense and his first SB appearance with them was an unmitigated disaster.

Montana Pro: went 4-0 in SBs in 12 years in SF while competing with multiple dynasties - Raiders, ********/Commanders, Giants, Bears (had the nucleus of arguably the best team ever, but Bears).
Montana Con: 49ers organization was fantastic during Montana's time and had an all-time innovator of a head coach. He probably had the best collection of individual talent around him of the three.

Elway Pro: Five SB appearances is nothing to sneeze at; plus he was contending with the same dynasties as Montana, plus Dallas in the mid-90s. Denver did enough to be very good, but they were always a step behind those other teams in building their roster, as evidence by the blowout SB losses. Coaching was good, never great.
Elway Con: 3 SB losses by a lot, and not very good showings by him.

Brady Pro: 10 SBs, 7 titles, 2 franchises, multiple SB-winning drives, largest SB come-from-behind-win. Titles since Brady left NE: Brady 1, Belichick 0.
Brady Con: Belichick might be the best coach/roster manager ever and the Patriots gave him full control of the franchise.

Going to go with Elway, and I ******* hate Elway for reasons that aren't entirely clear. I think his teeth make me feel uncomfortable.

Montana and Brady had better coaches, organizations and talent around them. Maybe they could've done the same with less, but that's not the situation they found themselves in.

 

[BMWallace]

Dan Marino

Marino was drafted by the Shula era Dolphins, they were by no means a struggling franchise at that time.

 

[WalkingCY]

I’d put Kurt Warner on the list for dragging the Cardinals to a Super Bowl even though they didn’t win. Other than the Lions is there a better example of a struggling franchise over the past 40 years than the Cardinals?

Uh, the Browns?

 

[Gundog73]

Terry Bradshaw.

 

[NorthCyd]

This is a really tough one, mostly because there's so much more to it than just the QB.

First, I'm going to eliminate Brees, Favre and Manning. Not enough SB appearances/titles for Brees or Favre to really be in the conversation with the others. Manning was absolute liability the year he won it with the Broncos - their defense was good enough to overcome him running the offense and his first SB appearance with them was an unmitigated disaster.

Montana Pro: went 4-0 in SBs in 12 years in SF while competing with multiple dynasties - Raiders, ********/Commanders, Giants, Bears (had the nucleus of arguably the best team ever, but Bears).
Montana Con: 49ers organization was fantastic during Montana's time and had an all-time innovator of a head coach. He probably had the best collection of individual talent around him of the three.

Elway Pro: Five SB appearances is nothing to sneeze at; plus he was contending with the same dynasties as Montana, plus Dallas in the mid-90s. Denver did enough to be very good, but they were always a step behind those other teams in building their roster, as evidence by the blowout SB losses. Coaching was good, never great.
Elway Con: 3 SB losses by a lot, and not very good showings by him.

Brady Pro: 10 SBs, 7 titles, 2 franchises, multiple SB-winning drives, largest SB come-from-behind-win. Titles since Brady left NE: Brady 1, Belichick 0.
Brady Con: Belichick might be the best coach/roster manager ever and the Patriots gave him full control of the franchise.

Going to go with Elway, and I ******* hate Elway for reasons that aren't entirely clear. I think his teeth make me feel uncomfortable.

Montana and Brady had better coaches, organizations and talent around them. Maybe they could've done the same with less, but that's not the situation they found themselves in.

With that list and your criteria you should include Aikman IMO.

 

[davegilbertson]

With that list and your criteria you should include Aikman IMO.

That list feels more best of the best (GOAT), MV QB convo. To me, I'm looking for someone that is *most responsible for a teams success vs how much collective success the team had.

Brady walked into a decent/solid situation, I'm not as familiar with others.

 

[KnappShack]

Honorable mention to Jim Kelly?

4 consecutive SuperBowls is pretty impressive.

 

[xboxfever]

It’s not Brady. They had Bledsoe who just took them to the Super Bowl a couple years before Brady came in. They were already a good team. Colts were awful before Manning, and the year he missed due to neck injury, they were awful again. Manning is the choice here.