Bryn Swartz did a very good article on Bleacher Report call "The 10 Greatest Postseason Quarterbacks in NFL History."   It was posted on May 03, 2009 and can be viewed by CLICKING HERE.  

It got me to thinking.  Who has been on the opposite side of the spectrum?  Who are the quarterbacks that consistently did the worst in the playoffs?  

I had a few criteria for defining the worse quarterbacks.  They are as follows:

a)    Confined to the Super Bowl Era - If you are wondering where Y.A Tittle is on the list this is why he isn't there.  I decided to go with just quarterbacks in the Super Bowl era.  

b)    No Rings - To qualify for the list a quarterback had to be ring less.  That is why guys like Peyton Manning, Steve Young, and Brett Favre are not on the list.   Even though they had mixed success in the playoffs and are criticized for some pretty bad playoff games they still all won a ring.

c)    At least five playoff starts - I didn't want to go with guys that played just a bad game.  These are guys that repeatedly were bad in the playoffs with multiple playoff teams.  Guys that were consistently good enough in the regular season to win at least ten games, but not good enough to take their team to the next level.

d) Stats vs. Wins and Losses - I tried to use a mix of the two.  If a quarterback had a lot of good stats that meant to me that the quarterback wasn't as much to blame for the playoff defeats as a guy that was putting up bad numbers.  I also tried to look at how many playoff wins the quarterback had and the surrounding talent on those teams.  The more surrounding talent the more unacceptable the playoff failure was.  There is no way to be 100% scientific with that, but I tried my best to balance the two. 

Here is my list of the ten biggest underachievers in the playoffs in NFL history.  

10) Donovan McNabb (9-6) - 322 completions, 540 attempts, 3,522 yards, 23 touchdowns, 16 picks, and a 80.8 QB rating - There's a couple reasons he makes my list.  Even though he has a nice winning playoff percentage compared to some other guys on the list he is also 1-4 in NFC Championship Games and 0-1 in the Super Bowl.  In the regular season he is known for not throwing picks.  His one pick every 47.8 regular season attempts is one of the best in NFL history.  In the postseason he throws a pick every 33.7 attempts.  He played big in the 2004 NFC Championship and did have 357 yards passing in the Super Bowl loss, which was only a 24-21 defeat.  He also had 100 yards passing and three picks in the 2003 NFC Championship Game and had three picks in the Super Bowl.  In the regular season he has an 85.9 rating.  It drops to 80.6 in the playoffs.  He has had too much success to be near the top of the disappointing list.  But a 1-4 NFC Championship record and no rings is enough for him to spot in the top ten.  

09) Jim Kelly (9-8) - 322 completions, 545 attempts, 3,863 yards, 21 touchdowns, 28 picks, and a 72.3 QB rating -  With the exception of the 1990 season this guy just played small time after time in the playoffs.  In the two games against Miami and Oakland he combined to go 36 for 52 with 639 yards, five touchdowns, two picks, and a QB rating of 127.00.  That means in the other 15-playoff games he combined to throw 16 touchdowns, 26 picks, and post a 66.5 QB rating.  Other than those two games he only posted one playoff game with over a 100.00 QB rating.  In the 1991 AFC Championship Game they won 10-7, despite Kelly going 13 for 25 with 117 yards, 0 touchdowns, two picks, and a 31.6 QB rating.  In 1992 they advanced to the Super Bowl in large part due to two Frank Reich wins over Houston and Pittsburgh.  Against Houston he came back from down 35-3 to win the largest playoff comeback in NFL history.  Jim Kelly helped them win the AFC Championship, but played awful in their Super Bowl loss to Dallas.

Jim Kelly was a big part of the Buffalo attack in the 1990s.  But the key to their offense was Thurman Thomas who registered six 100-yard rushing games in the playoffs.  Jim Kelly played well in spots, but played three horrible Super Bowls.   He threw an interception once every 19.5 attempts in the postseason, which is horrendous.  He threw at least one pick in 14 of his 17-playoff starts.  As a result Jim Kelly is tied with Brett Favre for the most playoff interceptions in Super Bowl history with 28.  Favre started five more playoff games and threw a pick only once every 25.8 times.  Kelly is easily one of the most turnover prone quarterbacks in NFL history.

The worst was Super Bowl XXVII when the Bills offense turned the ball over nine times.  Buffalo is a tough place to play in January but more often than not Jim Kelly was not playing his best ball in the postseason.  His inability to play good games and to turn the ball over in big spots combined with a defense that was not able to stop smash mouth NFC East offenses was a big reason why the Bills were not able to get over the hump and win a Super Bowl with their very talented teams in the early 1990s.  I'd have him higher based on his poor numbers, but at the end of the day he was the starting quarterback on the only team in NFL history to go to four consecutive Super Bowls.  You have to give him credit for that, even though his numbers were not always very good.

08) Warren Moon (3-7) - 259 completions, 403 attempts, 2,870 yards, 17 touchdowns, 14 picks, and a 84.9 QB rating -  I give him a little bit of a pass for the Houston Oilers struggles.  Warren Moon wasn't playing defense on the team that gave up a 35-3 lead.  Warren Moon didn't give up two fourth down conversions in the game 1991 Divisional Playoff game against Denver.  Time and time again Moon would play well in the playoffs and time and time again the defense would let him down.  Warren Moon's playoff rating of 84.9 is actually better than his 80.9 regular season rating.  But Moon was also known for disappearing in the second half of playoff games.  The Oilers led the Broncos 21-6 in the second quarter of the 1991 Divisional Round before losing to Denver 26-24.  They also led 35-3 against the Buffalo Bills before losing 41-38 in OT.  True the defense gave up those points.  But Warren Moon wasn't leading scoring drives either.  That offensive inability to convert first downs kept the defense on the field and was partially responsible for those collapses happening.  Moon played in the run and shoot offense, which was great for jumping out to big leads.  It was not so good at holding them in the fourth quarter.  It made for a lot of heartbreak in the playoffs.

07) Billy Kilmer (2-5) - 92 completions, 178 attempts, 1,060 yards, 8 touchdowns, 7 picks, and a 68.6 QB rating - Kilmer consistently played well in the regular season.  From 1971 to 1976 the Redskins were 45-19-1 and made the playoffs in 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, and 1976.  But once they got there they were quickly disposed of.  The only playoff trip where they won a playoff game was in 1972 when they advanced to the Super Bowl only to lose to the Miami Dolphins 14-7.   Kilmer had zero touchdown passes and three interceptions in that game.  Other than his two-playoff wins his best QB rating was a 71.4.  During the regular season from 1971 to 1976 he had a yards per attempt that was consistently between 7.1 and 7.3.  In the playoffs his yards per attempt were an anemic 6.0 playing in an era where teams didn't use West Coast offenses to move the ball on short passes. While it should be pointed out that he played in the Dead Ball Era his numbers were still not very impressive in the postseason.  He consistently underperformed in the playoffs and the Redskins consistently exited the playoffs early.

06) Randall Cunningham (3-6) - 181 completions, 339 attempts, 2,265 yards, 12 touchdowns, 8 picks, and a 76.4 QB rating - He could just never get it going in the playoffs early in his career.  The Eagles lost his first three-playoff games.  Randall Cunningham had zero touchdowns and five interceptions in those three losses.  In all the Eagles went 1-4 with him as the starting quarterback in the playoffs.  

He redeemed himself later in his career with the Minnesota Vikings.  In the 1997 playoffs he led the Vikings to a win over the Giants and had three-touchdown passes in a loss to the 49ers.  In 1998 he 34 touchdown passes and ten interceptions as the starter in the regular season.   He had five touchdowns and one pick in the playoffs, but the Vikings special teams and defense could not come through against Atlanta and the Falcons prevailed 30-27 in OT.  He never saw another playoff game as a starting quarterback.  

The Eagles had terrific defenses in the late 80s and early 90s, but their offense died once the playoffs started.  Cunningham was never blessed with great skill position talent in Philly and as a result the teams struggled when he got the playoffs.  On the other hand Cunningham was a dangerous playmaker that struck fear into opposing defenses...in the regular season.  He just never seemed to be able to generate that same excitement in the playoffs.  The Eagles only scored 25 total points in his first three-playoff starts.  Had Cunningham been able to raise his level of play in the postseason the Eagles may have been able to advance further in the playoffs and compete with their very dangerous defense.

05) Dave Krieg (3-6) - 127 completions, 252 attempts, 1,674 yards, 10 touchdowns, 8 picks, and a 71.8 QB rating - Dave Krieg had a 98-77 record as a NFL starter.  He played on Seattle teams that featured Hall of Fame receiver Steve Largent and three time Pro Bowl running back Curt Warner.  Krieg made the playoffs six times in his career as a starter.   When the playoffs arrived there was a lot more failure than success.  His best postseason run was in 1983 when the Seahawks advanced to the AFC title game.  Krieg had is best playoff game that year against Denver going 12 for 13 for 200 yards with three touchdowns and zero picks.  He also led the Seahawks to an upset win over Miami, before losing in the AFC title game to eventual Super Bowl champion Oakland.  The next year he would lead the Hawks to a wildcard win over Oakland, before losing to AFC Super Bowl representative, Miami.  From that point on his playoff record as a starter was 0-5.   The Seahawks, Chiefs, and Lions averaged 11.0 points per game in those five losses scoring only 20 points one time.  His highest rating in those losses was 87.1.  

Krieg never seemed to be able to align himself with a coach that had good playoff success.  His coach in Seattle was Chuck Knox who was 7-11 in the playoffs in his 22-year coaching career.  He left for Kansas City and played for Marty Schottenheimer who had a 5-13 playoff record in his 21-year coaching career.  In Detroit it was Wayne Fontes who was just 1-4 in the playoffs in his nine-year coaching career. That's a combined 13- 29 for his head coaches or .309 playoff winning percentage.  I can't think of a quarterback that played with that many playoff futile head coaches.  But, had Kreig played better in the playoffs maybe those coaches would have won a few extra playoff games.  He certainly didn't do himself any favors with his poor postseason play.

04) Dan Marino (8-10) - 385 completions, 687 attempts, 4,510 yards, 32 touchdowns, 24 picks, and a 77.1 QB rating - Dan Marino just never really looked comfortable playing on the big stage.  In the regular season he set every major passing record in NFL history.  Those records stood until Brett Favre passed the majority of them in 2007.   But in the playoffs Dan Marino was a pretty below average QB.  He only played in three conference championships in his legendary career.  The Dolphins were 1-2 in those games.  In his only Super Bowl he had the misfortune of running into the 17-1 San Francisco 49ers led by Joe Montana.  They lost that game 38-16.  Marino had one touchdown, two picks, and a 66.9 QB rating in that game.

Marino actually wasn't that bad of a postseason quarterback early in his career.  In his first 12-playoff games he was 6-6.  He was 258 for 454 for 3,178 yard with 26 touchdowns, 14 interceptions, and a QB rating of 84.9.  After 1995 he was a 34 to 38 year old QB that just didn't have the same skill set he had earlier in his career.  Four of his last six playoff games he had a rating under 70.00, which the Dolphins went 0-4 in those games.  They lost a 38-3 game to Denver.  The Dolphins actually did one better the following year losing 62-7 to Jacksonville.  

Marino had some pretty good playoff games early in his career.  He had four touchdowns to just one pick and a 135.4 QB rating in the 1984 AFC Championship Game.  He had two touchdowns and zero picks in a 17-16 win over Kansas City in the 1990 Wildcard Round.  Marino led a drive for a game winning field goal in that game.  He also had three touchdowns and zero picks in 31-0 win over San Diego in the 1992 Divisional Round.  

But too often his teams just came up short in the playoffs.  Like the 1985 AFC Championship Game where they lost to New England 30-14 at home.   Marino had two picks and a 54.9 rating in that game.  The 1992 AFC Championship Game where Marino had one touchdown, two picks, and a 56.5 QB rating in a 29-10 loss at Buffalo.  10 of his 18-playoff games saw Marino throw two or more picks.  The Dolphins were 1-9 in those games.  Compare that to the 7-1 record when he threw one pick or less.  Some of that was poor defensive teams that got down in those games early and forced Marino to take chances trying to comeback in games.  But there is no debating that Marino was not the same quarterback in the postseason that he was in the regular season.  Had he valued the ball better the Dolphins might have won a few more playoff games and may have been able to break through and win a Super Bowl.

03) Dan Fouts (3-4) - 159 completions, 286 attempts, 2,125 yards, 12 touchdowns, 16 picks, and a 70.0 QB rating - Dan Fouts had the misfortune of playing on some pretty average teams in terms of defense.  But he really never shined in the playoffs either.  He had two games where he threw five interceptions.  He threw an interception in six of his seven-playoff appearances.  The Chargers played in two conference championship games.  Fouts was just 37 for 73 with 521 yards passing, three touchdowns, four picks, and a 64.9 QB rating.  

Fouts had some misfortune in the playoffs.  His warm weather San Diego team got caught in the Freezer Bowl in Cincinnati.  The game time temperature was minus nine at kickoff with a wind chill of minus 59.  That certainly didn't help his march to the Super Bowl in the 1981 season.  But Fouts also created some of his own misfortune.  The 1979 Chargers were 12-4 and finished second in the NFL in points allowed.  They only lost their divisional round game 17-14, but Fouts had five interceptions.  They lost the 1980 AFC Championship to Oakland at home.  That final was 34-27, but Fouts got off to a pretty slow start in that game that combined with his defenses slow start saw the team down 28-7 in the second quarter.  

I don't put Fouts at the very top of the list, because for the most part he played on teams with bad running games and bad defenses.  But the Chargers had good teams while Fouts was there and he never seemed to put up the epic numbers he had in the regular season when the postseason came around.  Part of the Chargers playoff struggles has to be attributed to his poor play.      

02) Frank Tarkenton (6-5) - 149 completions, 292 attempts, 1,803 yards, 11 touchdowns, 17 picks, and a 58.6 QB rating - Fran Tarkenton played on some good teams.  His front four was known as the Purple People Eaters.  Carl Eller and Allen Page are Hall of Fame defensive lineman.  Jim Marshall and Gary Larsen were solid on the front four as well.  Paul Krause was a Hall of Fame safety.  Jeff Simeon was a four-time Pro Bowl middle linebacker.  On offense Chuck Foreman was a very formidable running back who made the Pro Bowl five times and scored 51 touchdowns from 1974 to 1976.  John Gilliam was a four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver.  Mick Tingeloff was a stellar center on their offensive line.  The talent was there for the Vikings to win a Super Bowl.

Yet once the Super Bowl came Tarkenton was lost.  In three Super Bowl losses the Hall of Fame QB went 46 for 89 with 489 yards, one touchdown pass, six picks, and a QB rating of 43.7.   In 1973 the defense ranked second in the NFL and gave up 24 points in the Super Bowl to the Dolphins.  The Vikings scored only seven points.  In 1974 the defense only gave up 16 points in the 16-6 loss to the Steelers.  Two of those points surrendered were on a Tarkenton safety.  The Vikings defense scored the only six Viking points of the game.  In 1976 neither side of the ball showed up in a 32-14 loss to the Raiders.  Oakland was up 19-0 before the Vikings scored in the third quarter and 32-7 before the Vikings scored a meaningless touchdown with Tarkenton out of the game.  

Tarkenton played with top five defenses in 1973, 1974, and 1976.  He just never was able to play well in the Super Bowl.  He really wasn't spectacular at any point in the playoffs.  His highest rating game was a 91.7.  He had a QB rating less than 70.0 in eight of his eleven-playoff starts.  He failed to throw a single touchdown in four of his eleven-playoff starts.  The Vikings had the misfortune of having to play Dallas, Pittsburgh, Miami, and Oakland.  But they had the talent to beat those teams.  They also had some tough luck in the playoffs, such as the Hail Mary pass from Rodger Staubach to Drew Pearson.

Even though he went to three Super Bowls I put him this high for two reasons.  1) He doesn't have the excuse that he played with poor defenses or poor running games.  The Vikings had that in place and he still came up short.  2) His numbers are just awful for the playoffs.  Even compared to other guys that played in the Dead Ball Era he was a turnover machine that just didn't make any plays.  He was the glaring weakness on those teams once the playoffs started.

01) Craig Morton (5-5) - 87 completions, 219 attempts, 1,188 yards, 9 touchdowns, 15 picks, and a 42.9 QB rating. - Morton has it all.  He has a poor postseason record.  He also has the worst numbers of any quarterback on the list.  There just isn't much good to say about his postseason numbers.  He had a 34.1 QB rating in the Super Bowl V loss to the Baltimore Colts.  He had just one touchdown, three picks, and 127 yards passing.  His other Super Bowl performance saw him go four for 15 with 39 yards passing, zero touchdowns, four picks, and a 0.0 QB rating.  It is the worst performance in Super Bowl history.  

He had five playoff starts where his rating was lower than a 35.0.  He was 0-2 in the Super Bowl.  Even his wins were shaky at best.  Take a 5-0 win over Detroit in the 1970 division round.  He was four for 18 with just 38 yards, zero touchdowns, one pick, and a 16.4 QB rating.  He also had a 30-28 win over San Francisco where Rodger Staubach relieved him in the fourth quarter to lead Dallas back from a 28-13 fourth quarter deficit.  Morton had a 29.2 QB rating in that game.  Dallas would go on to win two Super Bowls once Morton was replaced by future Hall of Famer Rodger Staubach.  The talent was in place in Dallas, but he just could not come through in those big games.

Morton played on good teams, but always managed to play his worst when the games mattered the most.  To me he is the worst playoff quarterback in the Super Bowl era.  

What are your thoughts?  Who do you think is the worst playoff quarterback in the Super Bowl era?  Do you like my list or think I left someone off?  If you think I left someone off, whom would you take off the list?  Let me know your thoughts.