Top 25 Super Bowl Quarterback Performances of All Time
There have been 65 men who can say they were a starting quarterback in the Super Bowl. While there have been 57 Super Bowls played to date, only 34 quarterbacks have won the Big Game. Twenty-one have started multiple Super Bowls, led of course by Tom Brady’s ridiculous 10 appearances, which include seven wins. Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana are next with four wins apiece.
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Quarterbacks may get all the glory but the fact of the matter is that there has been plenty of mediocre quarterback play in the Super Bowl—even among the winners. Pro Football Hall of Famer Bob Griese won back-to-back Super Bowls with the Miami Dolphins. In those two games, Griese passed for a combined 161 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Yes, that team relied on a great defense and dominant running game. But 161 yards in two games?
It’s not all about the numbers. In Brady’s first Super Bowl appearance, he completed 16-of-27 passes for 145 yards and one touchdown. Nothing special, but he led the last-minute drive that resulted in Adam Vinatieri’s game-winning field goal, earning the first of his five Super Bowl MVPs.
That game did not earn a spot among the top 25 performances from a quarterback in the Super Bowl, but Brady did top this list with four appearances. Three quarterbacks—Brady, Montana and Kurt Warner—earned multiple appearances. Brady and Warner are two of three quarterbacks to make the list in a losing effort.
Here’s the rundown, from 25 to 1.
25. Roger Staubach, Cowboys, Super Bowl XIII
In a classic shootout with the Steelers, Staubach completed 17-of-30 for 228 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.
Malcolm Emmons/USA TODAY Sports
Staubach started four Super Bowls for the Dallas Cowboys, winning twice. His best performance was actually one of the losing efforts. In a classic shootout with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Staubach completed 17-of-30 for 228 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. But he should have had four TDs. Late in the third quarter, trailing 21–14, Dallas was at the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 10-yard line. On third down, Staubach spotted veteran tight end Jackie Smith in the end zone. Smith dropped the pass. The Cowboys settled for a field goal, and that four-point swing was the difference in a 35–31 Steelers victory.
24. Jeff Hostetler, Giants, Super Bowl XXV
New York famously won this game with a brilliant defensive game plan from coordinator Bill Belichick and a ball-control offense. Oh, yeah, and a missed field goal from the Buffalo Bills’ Scott Norwood in the closing seconds. But don’t dismiss Hostetler’s heroics. The career backup was thrown into action when Phil Simms suffered a season-ending foot injury in a Week 15 loss to those same Bills. In Super Bowl XXV, Hostetler completed 20-of-32 for 222 yards, one TD and no interceptions. But perhaps his most significant play was this: With the Bills leading 10–3 midway through the second quarter, Hostetler was sacked in his own end zone by Hall of Fame defensive end Bruce Smith. Hostetler was holding the ball with just his throwing hand as Smith wrapped his giant hands around the quarterback’s wrist. Somehow, Hostetler held onto the ball when he went down, holding Buffalo to just a safety. Had he fumbled and the Bills recovered for a touchdown, it’s hard to imagine the Giants coming back.
23. Tom Brady, Patriots, Super Bowl LII
Even though the GOAT was outplayed in this game by a career backup in Nick Foles, you’ve got to give Brady his due. Among the boatload of postseason records Brady owns, he set the single-game Super Bowl mark in this one with a ridiculous 505 yards passing. Brady completed 28-of-48 for three touchdowns and no interceptions. Brady’s third touchdown, his second to Rob Gronkowski, put the New England Patriots ahead with less than 10 minutes to play. Surprisingly, it wasn’t enough to hold off Foles and the Philadelphia Eagles.
22. Jim Plunkett, Raiders, Super Bowl XV
Talk about unlikely. Journeyman Plunkett had a 34–53 record as a starting QB when he signed with the Oakland Raiders in 1979. In 1980, Oakland had a 2–3 record when starter Dan Pastorini suffered a broken leg. Plunkett was thrown into action and in his very first start for the Raiders, the 33-year-old threw five interceptions. But Plunkett and the Raiders rallied to become the first wild-card team to win a Super Bowl, beating an Eagles team that ranked No. 1 in fewest points allowed and No. 2 in fewest yards allowed that season. Undaunted, Plunkett passed for 261 yards and three touchdowns, with no interceptions.
21. Matthew Stafford, Rams, Super Bowl LVI
Stafford rewarded the Los Angeles Rams for their bold move to trade Jared Goff, two first-round picks and a third-round pick to the Detroit Lions in exchange for a 34-year-old quarterback with three career playoff games (all losses) in 12 NFL seasons. Los Angeles got to the Super Bowl and it didn’t disappoint. In the 23–20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, Stafford was 26-of-40 for 283 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. He threw the go-ahead touchdown pass to Cooper Kupp with 1:25 left to play. Kupp, who caught eight passes for 92 yards and two TDs, was the MVP but it could easily have gone to Stafford. In fact, Stafford is the only quarterback in history to throw three TD passes for the Super Bowl-winning team and not be MVP.
20. Tom Brady, Patriots, Super Bowl XLIX
Butler's interception secured the Patriots' 28–24 win after Brady led two touchdown drives to put New England in front late in the fourth quarter.
John Iacono/Sports Illustrated
Just another day at the office for Brady, who won the third of his five Super Bowl MVPs in a 28–24 come-from-behind win over the Seattle Seahawks. Trailing 24–14 going into the fourth quarter, Brady threw a pair of touchdowns in the final eight minutes against Seattle’s “Legion of Boom” defense that led the NFL in fewest points allowed that season. His numbers were certainly MVP worthy, completing 37-of-50 for 328 yards and four touchdowns to four different receivers, though he did also toss a pair of interceptions. This performance might have been ranked higher if not for the fact that it was overshadowed by what happened after New England took the lead. Seattle reached the Patriots’ 1-yard line with 26 seconds left, but instead of handing off to Marshawn Lynch, Russell Wilson attempted a pass and it was intercepted by Malcolm Butler to secure the win. If not for that inexplicable play-call, Brady’s great game is in a losing effort.
19. Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers, Super Bowl XLIII
Roethlisberger’s numbers in a 27–23 win over the Arizona Cardinals were just average, especially considering the Cardinals’ defense ranked near the bottom of the league in points allowed. Roethlisberger completed 21-of-30 for 256 yards with one TD and one INT—but it was the way he finished that earned him a spot on this list. After Arizona took the lead on a Larry Fizgerald 64-yard TD reception with 2:37 left to play, Pittsburgh began the next drive at its 12-yard line. Roethlisberger then completed five of seven passes for 84 yards—culminating with a precision pass in the back corner of the end zone that only Santonio Holmes could catch, which he did to give the Steelers their sixth Super Bowl victory. Of course, that was just the second-best QB performance in Super Bowl XLIII, because …
18. Kurt Warner, Cardinals, Super Bowl XLIII
While Roethlisberger was facing a mediocre Arizona defense, the 37-year-old Warner was going up against a Pittsburgh unit that led the NFL in fewest points and yards allowed. Nevertheless, Warner completed 31-of-43 for 377 yards and three touchdowns. It could have been four touchdowns—Warner drove the Cardinals to the Pittsburgh 1-yard line with 18 seconds left in the first half, but his pass to Anquan Boldin was intercepted by James Harrison. Not scoring there was tough, but it wouldn’t have been so devastating except for the fact that Harrison remarkably rumbled his way 100 yards for the most improbable pick-six in NFL history. Considering Warner’s dominance in the second half of that game, it’s safe to say that had Harrison not scored on that play, Warner and the Cardinals would have been champions.
17. Aaron Rodgers, Packers, Super Bowl XLV
In his only Super Bowl appearance, Rodgers faced another Steelers team that rode to the NFL title game on the heels of a defense that led the league in scoring. Pittsburgh allowed 14.5 points per game during the 2010 season, yet Rodgers completed 24-of-39 for 304 yards and three touchdown passes. The Green Bay Packers led comfortably for much of the game until Pittsburgh climbed to within three midway through the fourth quarter. That’s when Rodgers orchestrated a 70-yard drive that ate up more than five minutes and culminated in a field goal that made the score 31–25 with just over two minutes left. Green Bay’s defense made sure that would be the final score.
16. Tom Brady, Patriots, Super Bowl XXXVIII
Brady and Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme both passed for over 300 yards and three touchdowns—which is pretty amazing considering the score was 0–0 for the first 26 minutes of the game. Both offenses woke up at that point and combined for 24 points in the final 3:05 of the half. The Patriots took an 11-point lead early in the fourth quarter, but Carolina stormed back and took a 22–21 lead with 6:53 to play. Brady took the Pats down the field on their ensuing possession and regained the lead with a 1-yard TD pass to linebacker Mike Vrabel, who had lined up at tight end. Delhomme’s third TD pass tied the score at 29 with 1:08 left to play. For the second time in three years, it looked as if we’d see the first overtime in Super Bowl history. And for the second time in three years, Brady drove his team to a game-winning field goal from Vinatieri.
15. John Elway, Broncos, Super Bowl XXXIII
Elway completed 18-of-29 for 336 yards, one TD pass and one interception, plus a rushing score.
RVR Photos/USA TODAY Sports
After losing his first three Super Bowl appearances, all in the 1980s, Elway finally was crowned champion after the 1997 season, when the Denver Broncos upset the Packers in Super Bowl XXXII. But Elway, one of the most prolific quarterbacks in NFL history, didn’t do much in that game. In fact, Super Bowl MVP Terrell Davis had more yards rushing (157) than Elway had passing (123). In 1998, Elway came back to play his final NFL season at age 38. In Super Bowl XXXIII against the Falcons, he completed 18-of-29 for 336 yards, one TD pass and one interception, adding a rushing touchdown that gave Denver a 31–6 lead in the fourth quarter. Elway rode into his retirement as Super Bowl MVP.
14. Eli Manning, Giants, Super Bowl XLII
In a classic David vs. Goliath matchup, the wild-card Giants faced a Patriots squad that went 16–0 in the regular season and was seemingly unstoppable. Brady threw a then-NFL record 50 touchdown passes in 2007, more than twice as many as Manning’s 23 that season. But while the Giants defense did a masterful job of holding the Patriots to 14 points, Manning more than held his own against a New England defense that ranked fourth in the NFL that season in points allowed. He threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to David Tyree to give the Giants a 10–7 lead four minutes into the fourth quarter. Of course, there was a slightly more memorable Manning-to-Tyree connection to come. New England regained the lead when Brady hit Randy Moss with 2:42 left to play. On the ensuing drive, New York faced third-and-5 from their own 44. Never known for his mobility, Manning made several unlikely moves to avoid multiple Patriots pass rushers and then found Tyree, who outleaped defender Rodney Harrison for what became known as the “Helmet Catch.” The 32-yard gain put New York at the Patriots’ 24-yard line but it still needed a touchdown. Three plays later, the Giants had a first down at the Patriots’ 13. Manning saw that receiver Plaxico Burress had man coverage to his left, and hit Burress for the game-winning score.
13. Joe Montana, 49ers, Super Bowl XXIV
One year after staging a late comeback win in Super Bowl XXXIII, Montana and the San Francisco 49ers made this one look easy. The Broncos were making their third Super Bowl appearance in a four-year span. After losing the first two handily, they were thoroughly destroyed this time. The 49ers scored the most points and had the largest margin of victory in Super Bowl history, cruising to a 55–10 victory. In Montana’s first three Super Bowls, he had compiled a total of six touchdown passes and zero interceptions. In this, his final Super Bowl appearance, Montana threw a then-record five TD passes—and still no picks. Overall, Montana was 22-of-29 for 297 yards and the five scores. So in four career Super Bowls, Montana’s TD-INT ratio was an unbelievable 11–0.
12. Bart Starr, Packers, Super Bowl I
When the Packers got to Los Angeles for the first AFL-NFL World Championship Game—which eventually came to be known as Super Bowl I—there was an incredible amount of pressure on the Packers to win the game. Executives and coaches throughout the NFL were in no uncertain terms letting Packers coach Vince Lombardi know that under no circumstances could he lose to the AFL champion Kansas City Chiefs. That pressure carried over to Lombardi’s quarterback, who faced an added challenge: Early in the first quarter, star wide receiver Boyd Dowler was knocked out of the game with a shoulder injury. Even without Dowler, Starr passed for 250 yards and two touchdowns, both to little-used receiver Max McGee.
11. Troy Aikman, Cowboys, Super Bowl XXVII
The first of Aikman’s three Super Bowl victories was his best: He completed 22-of-30 for 273 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions in a 52–17 rout of the Bills. His passer rating of 140.7 is among the highest for a Super Bowl starter.
10. Joe Namath, Jets, Super Bowl III
By taking down the heavily favored Colts, Namath and the Jets served notice to the football world that the AFL could hold its own with the more established NFL.
Neil Leifer/Sports Illustrated
A lot of people think it was wrong that Namath was the MVP of this game instead of Jets running back Matt Snell, who rushed for 121 yards (plus 40 receiving) and scored the team’s only touchdown. Namath’s stats were pedestrian: 17-of-28 for 206 yards. Still, his performance needs to be in the top 10 based solely on his leadership abilities and the confidence he instilled in this team to win one of the most important games in NFL history. It wasn’t just the famous guarantee of victory. It was the swagger. By taking down the heavily favored Baltimore Colts, Namath and the Jets served notice to the football world that the AFL could hold its own with the more established NFL.
9. Joe Montana, 49ers, Super Bowl XIX
Montana didn’t do anything special when the 49ers won their first Super Bowl three years before this one. Super Bowl XIX, however, brought great expectations for an offensive explosion, as it was the Super Bowl debut for Dan Marino. The second-year Miami Dolphins quarterback had just smashed new NFL single-season records for passing yards and touchdowns. Marino was OK in what sadly turned out to be his only career Super Bowl appearance … but he was upstaged by Montana, who completed 24-of-35 for 331 yards and three TDs.
8. Joe Montana, 49ers, Super Bowl XXIII
Montana passed for 357 yards against the Bengals and threw the game-winning touchdown with 34 seconds left. He wasn’t the MVP, as Jerry Rice set a single-game Super Bowl record with 215 receiving yards. But it was Montana’s heroics that saved the day after the Bengals took a 16–13 lead with just over three minutes to play. Starting the ensuing drive at their own 8-yard line, Montana cemented his “Joe Cool” reputation by joining his team in the huddle and pointing out to them that he could see comedian John Candy in the crowd. After that, Montana engineered a near-perfect drive. With an offensive penalty adding to the distance needed, Montana completed 8-of-9 for 97 yards and the game-winning score.
7. Terry Bradshaw, Steelers, Super Bowl XIII
The Steelers’ first two NFL titles were secured by their “Steel Curtain” defense, which allowed a total of 23 points combined in Super Bowls IX and X. Bradshaw didn’t have to do much in either of those games, attempting fewer than 20 passes in both. Super Bowl XIII against the Dallas Cowboys was a different story. Bradshaw passed for 318 yards and four touchdowns—both records for the first 13 Super Bowls.
6. Kurt Warner, Rams, Super Bowl XXXIV
Now that he’s in the Hall of Fame, it’s easy to forget that Warner entered the 1999 NFL season as a little-known backup—an undrafted quarterback from Northern Iowa who only got the job because free-agent acquisition Trent Green went down with a preseason knee injury and the Rams didn’t have an experienced No. 2. All Warner did was lead the “Greatest Show on Turf” offense, earning league MVP honors and then backing it up with a record-breaking Super Bowl. Not only did Warner set a new Super Bowl record with 414 passing yards, his second TD pass of the game was a 73-yard bomb to Isaac Bruce that broke a 16–16 tie with less than two minutes left to play.
5. Phil Simms, Giants, Super Bowl XXI
The New York Giants quarterback made his first and only Super Bowl start, taking somewhat of a backseat to Broncos quarterback John Elway, who was making his first of what would be five career Super Bowl appearances. The Giants were NFC champs on the heels of a dominant defense led by MVP Lawrence Taylor, but it was Simms who stole the spotlight in Pasadena. Simms had as many incompletions as he did touchdowns, completing a Super Bowl record 88% of his passes (22-of-25) for 268 yards and three scores. And just to add to the historic significance of Simms’s performance, he was the first player to star in the iconic post-Super Bowl commercials in which he proclaimed, “I’m going to Disney World!”
Simms and Foles played nearly flawlessly in wins over the Broncos and Patriots.
Bob Deutsch/USA TODAY Sports (left); Matthew Emmons/USA TODAY Sports (right)
4. Tom Brady, Patriots, Super Bowl LI
As impressive as Brady’s historic comeback was, the GOAT’s performance here isn’t higher than No. 4 for one reason: He threw a pick-six in the second quarter that gave the Falcons a 21–0 lead, thus contributing to the need for such a comeback. Of course, the lead was extended to 28–3 midway through the third quarter and what Brady did from that point was unthinkable. The final numbers were impressive enough: 43-of-62 for 466 yards and two touchdowns. The completions and attempts are still Super Bowl records. The yardage total was a record until Brady broke it in a losing effort one year later. But even more impressive are Brady’s numbers for the second half plus overtime: 26-of-33 for 274 yards and two scores.
3. Nick Foles, Eagles, Super Bowl LII
In the blink of an eye, Foles joined Rocky Balboa as the next legendary Philadelphia underdog to become a champion. For 27 years, Hostetler laid claim to the greatest Super Bowl performance by a backup quarterback … then Foles obliterated that claim. Carson Wentz was enjoying an MVP season when he went down with a torn ACL in Week 14. The Eagles clinched the NFC East in that game, but not much was expected of them in the playoffs with Foles under center. Foles gave a tease of what was to come in the Super Bowl when he passed for 352 yards and three touchdowns in the NFC title game against the Vikings’ No. 1-ranked defense. Two weeks later, he outdueled Brady and the favored Patriots, completing 28-of-43 for 373 yards and three touchdowns. Of course, the chef’s kiss of Foles’s performance was the “Philly Special”—the trick play on fourth-and-goal with less than a minute to play in the first half. Foles hauled in a pass from tight end Trey Burton, becoming the first and only quarterback ever to catch a touchdown pass in the Super Bowl.
2. Doug Williams, Washington, Super Bowl XXII
No matter where you want to rank this single-game performance, it’s safe to say Williams put together the single greatest quarter of football, Super Bowl or otherwise. And the fact that Washington won this game 42–10 might lead some to forget that the Broncos actually led this game 10–0 going into the second quarter. It was a tough stretch for Williams. The day before Super Bowl XXII, he needed an emergency root canal for an abscessed tooth. Then he was sidelined late in the first quarter with a leg injury. But Williams made it back onto the field for Washington’s first possession of the second quarter and proceeded to shred the Broncos’ defense. By the time the smoke cleared, Washington had a 35–10 halftime lead. Williams’s numbers for the second quarter: 9-of-11 for 228 yards and four touchdowns. Williams finished 18-of-29 for 340 yards and those four scores. And to further add to his place in history, Williams was the first Black quarterback to win the Super Bowl.
1. Steve Young, 49ers, Super Bowl XXIX
Every six pass attempts resulted in a touchdown for Young, who played under the shadow of Montana.
Matthew Emmons/USA TODAY Sports
Young did more than just escape from under the formidable shadow of Montana. It was a little unfair, as the 49ers were prohibitive favorites against the overmatched San Diego Chargers, but Young was downright surgical. He completed 24-of-36 for 325 yards and a Super Bowl-record six TD passes. Let that sink in: Every six pass attempts resulted in a score. And if that wasn’t enough, Young was also the game’s leading rusher, gaining 49 yards on five carries.
