NFL • HISTORY

The 10 Greatest Quarterbacks of the Pre-1970 Era

Before Brady, Montana and Marino, these were the men who defined the position.

Trying to rank every quarterback in professional football history on one list creates a problem.

Johnny Unitas didn't play Tom Brady's game. Sammy Baugh didn't play Patrick Mahomes' game. Sid Luckman operated in an NFL that barely resembles the one we watch today.

So we're not going to pretend otherwise.

For An Educated Fan, 1970 is our dividing line. The AFL-NFL merger had been completed, the AFC and NFC were created, and professional football entered what we will call its modern era.

Some quarterbacks played on both sides of that line. We're placing them in the era in which the accomplishments that principally define their careers occurred.

That's why Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath and Sonny Jurgensen are here. Fran Tarkenton, whose defining Minnesota run included three Super Bowl appearances and his MVP season after the merger, belongs in our post-1970 discussion.

We're considering dominance relative to the era, individual achievement, championships, postseason performance, longevity, influence on the position and impact on professional football.

Most importantly, we're judging these quarterbacks against the game they actually played.

10. Sonny Jurgensen

If this list were about the ability to throw a football, Sonny Jurgensen might be considerably higher.

When Jurgensen became Philadelphia's full-time starter in 1961, he threw for 3,723 yards and 32 touchdowns. Over his career, he led the NFL in passing yards five times and touchdown passes twice.

He finished with 32,224 yards and 255 touchdown passes. Those are remarkable numbers for his era.

Jurgensen's problem in this ranking is something largely beyond his control: he never played in a postseason game.

That shouldn't erase his individual greatness. But when separating quarterbacks this accomplished, postseason achievement has to count for something.

9. Bobby Layne

Bobby Layne wasn't the prettiest quarterback on this list. He might have been one of the toughest.

Layne was at the center of Detroit's rise into the dominant NFL team of the early 1950s. The Lions won consecutive NFL championships in 1952 and 1953.

Detroit won another championship in 1957, but there's an important distinction. Layne broke his leg late in the regular season, and Tobin Rote quarterbacked Detroit through the postseason.

So we aren't giving Layne three quarterbacked championship victories. Context matters.

Layne's case is built around toughness, late-game performance and winning. With Layne, the Lions expected to contend for championships.

8. Norm Van Brocklin

Here's one number that still looks ridiculous:

554 passing yards.

Van Brocklin threw for 554 yards against the New York Yanks in 1951, establishing an NFL single-game record that still stands.

But Van Brocklin isn't No. 8 because of one remarkable afternoon.

He was part of the Los Angeles Rams' 1951 NFL championship team and eventually moved to Philadelphia, where he finished his career with perhaps his most meaningful accomplishment.

In 1960, the Eagles defeated Vince Lombardi's Packers 17-13 for the NFL championship. Van Brocklin retired after the season.

Championships with two franchises and one of football's most enduring individual records put Van Brocklin at No. 8.

7. Y.A. Tittle

Y.A. Tittle never won an NFL championship.

That fact follows him around. It shouldn't obscure how extraordinary he was.

Tittle arrived in New York in 1961 at age 34. Instead of fading away, he produced one of the great late-career runs in NFL history.

In 1962, Tittle set an NFL record with 33 touchdown passes. In 1963, at 37 years old, he broke his own record by throwing 36 touchdown passes.

The Giants reached the NFL Championship Game in 1961, 1962 and 1963 and lost all three.

But the first two defeats came against Vince Lombardi's Packers. The third came against George Halas' 1963 Chicago Bears championship team.

No championship. But far too much greatness to ignore.

6. Joe Namath

Here's where this ranking will bother people who begin and end with statistics.

Joe Namath threw 173 career touchdown passes and 220 interceptions. Those numbers don't look like an all-time great quarterback's résumé today.

And they don't adequately explain Joe Namath.

In 1967, Namath threw for 4,007 yards in 14 games, becoming the first quarterback in professional football history to surpass 4,000 yards in a season.

Then came Super Bowl III.

The Baltimore Colts represented the established NFL. Namath and the New York Jets represented an AFL still trying to prove its best teams belonged on the same field.

Namath guaranteed victory. The Jets won 16-7.

If we were ranking quarterbacks strictly by career statistics, Namath wouldn't be sixth.

But football history isn't a spreadsheet.

The first 4,000-yard season. Super Bowl III. Impact counts.

5. Bart Starr

Five NFL championships. Victories in the first two Super Bowls. Two Super Bowl MVP awards.

Bart Starr's postseason résumé is extraordinary.

And Starr wasn't merely along for the ride. He led the NFL in passing three times and was league MVP in 1966.

So why isn't he higher?

Context.

Those Packers were one of the most talent-rich teams in NFL history, coached by Vince Lombardi and stocked with Hall of Fame players.

That doesn't diminish Starr's greatness. It does mean we're not going to count rings and declare the argument over.

4. Sid Luckman

Sid Luckman didn't merely succeed in an offense. He helped demonstrate what a sophisticated passing offense could become.

George Halas built Chicago's T-formation attack around him, and the results helped change professional football.

In 1943, Luckman threw for 2,194 yards and 28 touchdowns in only 10 games, establishing NFL single-season records in both categories.

In the championship game against Washington, he threw five touchdown passes in a 41-21 victory.

Chicago won four NFL championships during Luckman's career.

His individual dominance and his role in the evolution of offensive football put him fourth.

3. Sammy Baugh

There was professional football before Sammy Baugh.

Then there was professional football after Sammy Baugh.

The difference was the forward pass.

Baugh became one of the central figures in transforming passing from an occasional tactic into a primary offensive weapon.

He won six NFL passing titles and earned first-team All-NFL honors seven times. Washington won NFL championships in 1937 and 1942 with Baugh.

In 1945, Baugh completed 70.3 percent of his passes, an almost absurd number for the period.

Yes, Baugh was also a great punter and defensive back. But that's not why he's No. 3.

We're ranking quarterbacks, and Baugh helped prove that throwing the football could become the foundation of an offense.

2. Otto Graham

Ten professional seasons.

Ten championship-game appearances.

Seven championships.

Those numbers sound almost fictional.

But one qualification is essential.

Four of Graham's championships came in the All-America Football Conference. Three came in the NFL.

Cleveland dominated the AAFC, winning all four league championships from 1946 through 1949.

Then the Browns joined the NFL in 1950.

Instead of becoming ordinary against NFL competition, Cleveland won the NFL championship in its first NFL season.

The Browns added NFL championships in 1954 and 1955.

Graham therefore finished his 10-year professional career having reached the championship game every season and winning seven times: four AAFC championships and three NFL championships.

That's one of the greatest winning résumés a quarterback has ever assembled.

And Graham is still No. 2.

1. Johnny Unitas

Johnny Unitas didn't invent the quarterback position. He helped define what we came to expect from it.

The story almost didn't happen.

Pittsburgh selected Unitas in the ninth round of the 1955 draft and cut him before he threw a regular-season pass. Baltimore gave him another opportunity.

Then he changed the sport.

By 1957, Unitas led the league in passing yards, touchdown passes, yards per attempt and passer rating.

Then came the 1958 NFL Championship Game.

Baltimore trailed the New York Giants 17-14 late in the fourth quarter. Unitas completed seven consecutive passes to set up the tying field goal.

The game went to overtime—the first overtime game in NFL history.

Unitas then directed an 80-yard drive that ended with Alan Ameche's championship-winning touchdown.

Baltimore repeated as NFL champion in 1959.

But Unitas' case isn't based on two championship games.

He won three MVP awards and earned five first-team All-Pro selections. He led the NFL in passing yards four times and touchdown passes four times.

His streak of 47 consecutive games with a touchdown pass lasted for more than half a century.

When Unitas retired, he held NFL career records with 2,830 completions, 40,239 passing yards and 290 touchdown passes.

Otto Graham won more championships.

Sammy Baugh did more to establish the forward pass.

Sid Luckman helped revolutionize offensive football.

Bart Starr owned the postseason.

Joe Namath produced one of the sport's most consequential upsets.

But Unitas brings almost all of those elements together.

Otto Graham built the greatest winning résumé of the era.

Johnny Unitas became its greatest quarterback.

That's why Johnny U is No. 1.

The An Educated Fan Top 10

1. Johnny Unitas
2. Otto Graham
3. Sammy Baugh
4. Sid Luckman
5. Bart Starr
6. Joe Namath
7. Y.A. Tittle
8. Norm Van Brocklin
9. Bobby Layne
10. Sonny Jurgensen

Next: The 10 Greatest Quarterbacks of the Modern NFL Era.