The 25 greatest quarterbacks in NFL history. That is a discussion that is sure to generate some…conversations. Maybe riots is another word for it but the debates are always fun. NFL.com decided to take a stab at it with a full list courtesy of their historical expert Elliot Harrison. There were the obvious names at the top: Tom Brady, Joe Montana, and Peyton Manning. The interesting stuff was towards the bottom. Not that Chicago Bears fans should care, right?
No organization is better known for quarterback futility than this one. Run through the list of names like Bob Avellini, Cade McNown, Craig Krenzel, and Rex Grossman. They’ll conjure up instant migraines for Bears fans, young and old. What has made it 10 times worse is having to watch their hated enemy Green Bay Packers roll out three Hall of Famers in Bart Starr, Brett Favre, and Aaron Rodgers, over the past 60 years.
Was there ever a time this team was good at the position? Yes. It was a long time again, but for a period of time in the 1940s, they had arguably the best in the business. Most young fans don’t know the names, but Harrison sure does. He ranked Sid Luckman as the 16th greatest quarterback in history.
Chicago Bears will always have a pioneer in Sid Luckman
It’s hard to put into words how special Luckman was. The forward pass was still in its infancy in those days. A lot of teams weren’t ready to embrace it over the class power running schemes that dominated the sport. It wasn’t until Luckman rewrote the record books that people started taking notice.
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“Severely underrated. Vastly underrated. Whatever other adjective you can come up with that applies here, please do. There’s a reason why some of the Bears’ passing records still belong to Luckman. He was the second-best quarterback of his era — the Peyton Manning to Sammy Baugh’s Tom Brady, if you will. Although, Luckman was a little like the latter, in that he won four NFL titles (and lost another) in 12 years for Chicago.
Those Bears teams led by Luckman might have won more if so many of their players (including Luckman) had not served in World War II. Still, he led the NFL in passing yards three times, touchdown passes three times, and passer rating three times. His 8.4 yards per attempt still ranks second all time, higher than Manning or Brady or any player whose name doesn’t rhyme with Grotto Ham.
Chicago’s record while Luckman was there was 98-32-3. Remember when Manning threw seven touchdowns in a game? So cool, right? Perhaps this is an appropriate time to mention that Luckman did that back in 1943.”
Things started going wrong for the Bears after Luckman retired in 1951. They haven’t had anybody close to his level since then. Jim McMahon, Erik Kramer, and Jay Cutler offered only brief glimpses of what competent QB play can look like in Chicago. This is why hopes are high that Mitch Trubisky can finally end the misery.
