Does the Washington Football Team need an elite quarterback to win the Super Bowl?

Washington Football Team QB Alex Smith and coach Ron Rivera. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Washington Football Team QB Alex Smith and coach Ron Rivera. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /
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Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel photo by Tom Lynn) ORG XMIT: MJS0601270943080185
Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel photo by Tom Lynn) ORG XMIT: MJS0601270943080185 /

The numbers

Over the past 40 years, 25 different quarterbacks have led their teams to Super Bowl victories. Among those QBs who are still playing, or are recently retired, we cannot know for sure who will eventually be in the Hall of Fame. But we can make pretty good guesses.

For my purposes, I’m saying the Brady, Roethlisberger, Brees, Rodgers, Wilson, and Mahomes will be in some day, while Flacco and Foles will be out. I’m also leaving out Eli Manning, whose candidacy will cause a fair amount of debate.

Of those 25 QBs, guess how many are in – or will one day be in – the Hall of Fame.

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Thirteen. The six mentioned above, along with Joe Montana, Troy Aikman, Peyton Manning, John Elway, Steve Young, Brett Favre, and Kurt Warner.

That means 12 quarterbacks who will never get into the Hall of Fame without a ticket have won Super Bowls over the last 40 years. That’s 48 percent of all the quarterbacks who have won the big game in that time period. If you bleed Giant blue and insist on enshrining Eli, the number only drops to 44 percent.

The likes of Trent Dilfer, Mark Rypien, and the aforementioned Joe Flacco accomplished the ultimate, and though they played very well in brief spurts, you would have to do some serious stretching to include them under the “elite” umbrella.