Quarterbacks Do Not Win Super Bowls

Jan 20, 2013; Atlanta, GA, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick (7) scrambles against the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship game at the Georgia Dome. The 49ers won 28-24. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Or any other football game for that matter. You always hear people talking about how many championships Tom Brady or Eli Manning or Drew Brees has won. Or any other QB that has been part of a Super Bowl winning team. You see, the key word in that sentence is ‘part’.

This isn’t tennis or any other kind of solo sport. Those players win titles. Roger Federer and Novak Djokivc win titles. They directly affect the outcome of the game. It’s not a doubles match. It’s one man (or woman) against another and whoever plays the best wins the match.

A quarterback is reliant on several things to have success on the football field. How great would we think Brett Favre was if all his receivers dropped most of his passes? A QB needs his receivers to catch the ball. They also need to be well protected, and given the time to make the throws that they hope will be completions.

I am much more willing to accept that a running quarterback like Kaepernick or RG3 has a bigger outcome on a game than a passer who purely throws the ball. You see, when they take off running, it is purely down to them (and perhaps some good blocking) to make the play.

Don’t get me wrong – I fully realise that the quarterback is undoubtebly the most important player on the team. He plays pretty much every offensive snap, and if you have a good one then you have every chance of winning games.

But you never hear about how many centers or left tackles have won Super Bowls, do you? Nope; it’s always the quarterback who wins the game. Even elite rushing backs and receivers don’t get credited with winning Super Bowls. When looking back through history, we always hear about how many Super Bowls a quarterback has won. As if they did it all by themselves.

So, as we approach this Sunday’s title match in New Orleans, it’s worth remembering that either Colin Kaepernick or Joe Flacco will be given most of the praise for winning the Super Bowl. Even if the victor plays an absolutely awful game, we will, when talking about this game in the future, tell everyone that one of those players won the Super Bowl. Almost as if they were playing each other in some bizarre solo version of football where no one else was even involved.

The fact is this – many things need to go your way to win a football game, or any other team sport. Yes, the QB is pivotal, but it’s not the be all and end all. Let’s stop talking about how many championships a quarterback has won, and remember that every player on that team deserves equal credit. From the punter to the right guard, and everywhere else in between.