NFL quarterbacks

If I was a NFL owner, I wouldn't care about legacy, records, statistics, or contract size. I would care about winning the super bowl. And to win the super bowl, you need a great quarterback. You could make the argument that Trent Dilfer, Doug Williams, and Brad Johnson are not great quarterbacks and they have won the super bowl. I would not argue that with you but I believe that they are the exception, not the rule. The Ravens and Bucs had elite defenses and Doug Williams played the game of his life in the super bowl. Here's my list of the top ten quarterbacks of all time:

10. Phil Simms. Phil is the only 1 win super bowl QB on this list. He's here because he still holds the record for the most efficient super bowl passing performance in super bowl XXI (22-25, 268 yds, 3 TDs, 2 of his incompletions were drops) and he did most of the regular season work during the super bowl XXV season before giving way to Jeff Hostetler. Phil was hurt a lot but was a gamer.

9. Bob Griese. Griese has a 2-1 record in the super bowl. He lost his first appearance then won two in a row. He was blessed with Mercury Morris, Larry Csonka, and Jim Kiick, as well as a great defense, but he was a winner. Too bad he couldn't pass that along to his son.

8. Roger Staubach. Roger the dodger won the Heisman while at the Naval Academy. Then he did a tour in Vietnam. Then he came to America's team and won two super bowls. That gets you #8 on my list.

7. Bart Starr. The original Alabama QB. He played under Bear Bryant, then moved up to the frozen tundra of Green Bay where he won super bowl 1 and 2, setting the standard for QBs for the rest of the super bowl era. Bart Starr also had the coolest name a quarterback could ever have. It's like a cross between an old west villian and a stripper. Awesome.

6. Ben Roethlisberger. Rapeiness issues aside, Ben is 2-0 in the super bowl. The last minute TD toss to Santonio Holmes is exactly why these guys are paid 10 million dollars a year. He is a clutch player who is currently on the superhighway to oblivion between his frat boy bullshit and weight issues. I don't think Ben takes his career as serious as he should, but he's a great big game QB.

5. John Elway. Poor John Elway. He went 0-3 in the big game as a youngster, all blowouts by NFC powerhouse teams. Then at the tail end of his career, he found Terrell Davis and went out the way every QB would love to: with two consecutive super bowl wins.

4. Troy Aikman. Troy was originally recruited to run the wishbone in college at Oklahoma before tranferring to UCLA and becoming a prized drop back passer. He suffered early on in his career with the Cowboys, but Jimmy Johnson and Jerry Jones built an awesome team around him. Troy won 3 superbowls in 4 years and was undefeated in the big game.

3. Terry Bradshaw. Terry Bradshaw may play an idiot on FOX, but he was a huge winner, going 4-0 in the super bowl. He doesn't have many steeler records left since Ben the Rapist has broken most of them, but he was never about the records, he was about winning and he did it better than most.

2. Tom Brady. Had David Tyree not made that silly catch off his helmet, Tom Brady would probably #1 on this list. Brady is the second most clutch QB in the history of the game which could change since his career isn't over yet. He always seems to win when his team needs him. He's the second QB in history to win 3 super bowls in 4 years and had a shot to 4 in 5 years. If he adds another super bowl ring to his resume, he'll go down as the best QB ever, but for now, that title belongs to...

1. Joe Montana. The absolute best guy to ever put on a helmet. He won with Dwight Clark, he won with Jerry Rice, he won with Roger Craig, he won with Ricky Watters. He was the constant in San Francisco for over a decade and won four super bowls in 8 years. He wasn't the fastest, strongest armed, or toughest, but he always found a way to win. One of the most impressive things he did in his career was keep Steve Young, a future hall of famer and super bowl winning QB himself, on the bench for 5 years. There is not another QB out there who could do that. Joe Montana is the best QB in the history of the game.

Honorable mention: Johnny Unitas, Brett Favre, Jim Kelly, Kurt Warner, Jim Plunkett, Len Dawson, Peyton Manning--sorry Dan Marino.