Kevin Stefanski Looks To Put A Bow On Coach Of The Year By Being First To Win With Five Starting Quarterbacks In A Single Season
Quick flash data dive to help my holie, Eggs Tyrone, with an important historical question.
Never happened Eggs. Not once. Not ever.
End of blog, right?
Nah... Let's have a little fun and take a quick look at the teams that tried and failed. I found four other teams to start five quarterbacks in a single season. But none were able to get all five infinity stones.
1987 Kansas City Chiefs (4-11)
Tough to win five games with five quarterbacks when you only win four games all year. Starters included future plumbers and car phone salesmen Bill Kenney, Matt Stevens, Frank seurer, Todd Blackledge, and Doug Hudson. I'm pretty sure I remember a Doug Hudson knocking on my door in the 90s selling carpet cleaning services. Looking at his career stats on Pro-Football Reference I see his career lasted one game where he started and went 0/1 on two dropbacks with a 10-yard sack. That's a career adjusted net yards per attempt of -5. What a stud! If I were him I'd go around telling everyone I was one of the very few (if only??) starting quarterbacks in the NFL who never threw an interception.
ELITE!
1987 Atlanta Falcons (3-12)
Try not to be too shocked that both of these first two teams who started five quarterbacks in a single season failed to even win five games. That's not usually in the preseason game plan. I know what you're saying Falcons and Chiefs fans. I know what you're saying! "NOT FAIR THIS WAS THE SHORTENED SEASON!!"
Let's see how many names you recognize here..
- Scott Cambell
- Jeff Van Raaphost
- Chris Miller
- Erik Kramer
- David Archer
That's one for me! I went to enough Erik Kramer games in the 90s when he was a Bear to have that name etched in my sad memory. I'll never forget a 4th down and goal on the last play of a game where he threw the ball away through the uprights to avoid an interception. Five-year old me even knew that was dumb.
1984 Bears (10-6)
That's more like it. Da coach had no problem taking a team with five starting quarterbacks to the conference championship. McMahon won seven. Steve Fuller won two. Greg Landry won one. How guys named Bob Avellini and Rusty Lisch got the nod must be a story us Bears fans can ask our dads and grandpas.
1961 Bills (6-8)
What in the world is this logo? I love it. Looks like it belongs on a He-Man kids cup from the 80s. And let me tell you, we had a couple of characters that took the first snap of a game from this bunch.
Tommy O'Connell: went 1-5 for 11 yards and an interception in his only start.
Warren Rabb: managed to win after going 0/3 passing and -1 yard on two rushes. That gave him a passer rating of 39.6 which was his worst passer rating as a starter since the very week before (31.1).
At 11-5, the Browns are the winningest team to start five quarterbacks in a single season. The only thing in the way of history for the Browns is Browning. Not Browning in the Chargering sense that they crap the bed and start losing. Browning as in the foe they face from Cincinnati.
Is the 5th team to start five quarterbacks in a season and win five games the charm? Browns history is in the making.
Get the banner ready.