We’re continuing our look at the five best quarterbacks who’ve not won a Super Bowl.
Click here to read Part 1.
Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions
Career: 60-65, 62 completion percentage, 34,749 yards, 216 touchdowns, 118 interceptions, one Pro Bowl, one comeback player of the year award
Super Bowl Appearances: 0
If you want to see Philip Rivers’ career happen all over again, tune your interocetor to the Detroit Lions because I see no different ending to Matthew Stafford’s story. Like Rivers, Stafford has been saddled with some of the worst head coaching hires in the history of the league. Even with Jim Schwartz and Jim Caldwell dragging him down like a dead albatross tied to a millstone and chained around an anchor, Stafford has still managed to get the Lions to the playoffs three times and to four winning seasons.
Will Matt Patricia be the difference maker the Lions hope at head coach? There’s a lot riding on this first season for him to even keep a job after past sexual assault allegations came to light after he was hired. It’ll take a monstrous effort for Stafford to even get this team to the playoffs past the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers, let alone the franchise’s first Super Bowl appearance.
Alex Smith, Washington Redskins
Career: 88-62-1, 62.4 completion percentage, 31,888 yards, 183 touchdowns, 96 interceptions, three Pro Bowls
Super Bowl Appearances: 1 (Lost 34-31 to the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII, Smith did not play)
While everyone else on the list so far has been kind of a bummer to talk about, Smith isn’t. Thanks to good head coaching (Jim Harbaugh and Andy Reid), Smith completely resurrected his career after looking like a first round (No. 1 overall in 2005) bust for the first five years. His head coaches then? Mike Nolan, Mike Singletary and for one game, Jim Tomsula. It was one garbage fire after another.
In Smith’s first year with Harbaugh, the 49ers went 13-3 and made it all the way to the NFC Championship game. Smith was tracking that same way in 2012, but got injured and Wally Pipped by Colin Kaepernick. He was traded to the Chiefs the following season.
Of Smith’s 88 wins, 69 have come since 2011. He has not experienced one losing season in that span and helped his team get to the playoffs six times out of seven tries.
It won’t be the same for Smith this year in Washington. Jay Gruden will be the worst head coach he’s played for since he had to dodge Tomsula’s burrito farts. Not only that, he’s in a killer division with the Super Bowl LII Champion Philadelphia Eagles, a Dallas Cowboys team that should be resurgent and a New York Giants team that has to feel pretty good about itself too. It’s not looking good for Smith to ever get a title, but considering the depths the guy pulled himself out of, his is still a success story.
Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers
Career: 62-45-1, 58.5 completion percentage, 25,074 passing yards, 158 passing touchdowns, 94 interceptions, 4,320 career rushing yards, 54 rushing touchdowns, 5.2 yards per carry average, three Pro Bowls, one All-Pro, one NFL MVP
Super Bowl Appearances: 1 (Lost 24-10 to the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50)
Unlike Ryan, Newton didn’t choke away his chance at a Super Bowl. The Panthers lost to a better, more complete team in the Broncos with a defense that was built specifically to stop them. It shouldn’t hang on his legacy, but, just like Ryan, it’s going to be tough to get back.
Newton will be an interesting case this season. He’ll be working with Norv Turner, the best offensive mind by far he’s ever shared a film room. We could experience an entirely new, and much deadlier, Cam Newton in 2018. I’m excited at the prospect and, because of that, I think he’s got the best chance of any of the men on this list to hold aloft that football-shaped trophy in the next couple of seasons.
