TODAY’S SPORTSTAT: Quarterbacks usually shine the brightest in Super Bowls

By JERRY TAPP

Super Bowl 53 MVP?

Brady?

Goff?

Someone else?

If you are looking to predict who might be the MVP of the Super Bowl this Sunday, you won’t go wrong by picking either of the opposing QBs: Tom Brady or Jared Goff. In the last 52 Super Bowls, there have been 29 quarterbacks chosen as the MVP, well over half of those honored.

But there’s more to the story. Here’s a handful of stats you may not know about QBs and the Super Bowl MVP Award. Did you know …

• Joe Namath is the only Super Bowl MVP QB who did not throw a TD pass in that game.
• Of the 53 Super Bowl winning quarterbacks who threw five or more passes in the game (the Baltimore Colts in 1971 had QBs Earl Morrall and Johnny Unitas each attempt five or more passes in that game), 45 had at least one TD pass in the game.
• Every Super Bowl winning QB who threw three or more TD passes in the game was selected as the MVP … one threw six TD passes (Steve Young), one threw five TD passes (Joe Montana), four had four TD passes, and seven had three TD passes. That’s 13 of the 13 Super Bowl winning QBs who had three or more TD passes was selected as the game’s MVP.
• Of the 15 Super Bowl winning QBs who had two TD passes in the game, eight were chosen as the game’s MVP. Of the 17 Super Bowl winning QBs who had one TD pass in the game, seven were chosen as the MVP. Eight Super Bowl winning QBs did not have a TD pass in the game.
• Of the 28 Super Bowl winning QBs who had two or more TD passes in the game, 21 went on to win the MVP … that’s 75%. Good odds for any Super Bowl winning QB who can get at least two TD passes on his stat line.

There have been a few Super Bowl winning QBs who, statistically speaking, did not have very impressive games. Topping that list would probably be Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger. In the Steelers’ 2006 Super Bowl win over Seattle, Roethlisberger had a Passer Rating of 22.6, the lowest Passer Rating of any Super Bowl winning QB. He had no TD passes and two interceptions in the game.

Following are the five Super Bowl winning QBs who had the lowest Passer Rating in the contest.

Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh, 2006 … 22.6
John Elway, Denver, 1998 … 51.9

Earl Morrall, Baltimore, 1971 … 54.0

Peyton Manning, Denver, 2016 … 56.6

Joe Theismann, Washington, 1983 … 75.1

In addition, did you know …

• Four Super Bowl winning QBs completed less than 50% of their passes in the big game: Roethlisberger 42.9% (2006), Morrall 46.7% (1971), Terry Bradshaw 47.4% (1976) and Trent Dilfer 48.0% (2001).
• Eight Super Bowl winning QBs did not have a TD pass in the game: Roethlisberger (2006), Elway (1998), Peyton Manning (2016), Morrall (1971), Namath (1969), Troy Aikman (1994), Jim McMahon (1986), Bob Griese (1974).
• Four Super Bowl winning QBs had multiple interceptions in the game: Bradshaw (three in 1980… he was still selected MVP in the game); Tom Brady (two in 2005… also selected MVP of the game); Joe Theismann (two in 1983); and Roethlisberger (two in 2006).

Just to add a little balance to this piece, there have been six Super Bowl losing QBs who had three TD passes in the game: Roger Staubach (1979), Brett Favre (1998), Jake Delhomme (2004), Donovan McNabb (2005), Kurt Warner (2009) and Tom Brady (2018).

Follow Jerry on Twitter @StatsonTapp