Five worst NFL quarterbacks with Super Bowl rings by John Buhler 1h ago 
Dec 3, 2015; Detroit, MI, USA; The Vince Lombardi Trophy displayed outside the fan zone before the game between the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers at Ford Field. Raj Mehta-USA TODAY SportsWith the NFL to host Super Bowl 50 this year, let’s look back at the five worst starting quarterbacks to win a Super Bowl.Super Bowl 50 is rapidly approaching and in this quarterback-driven era of the NFL, it is almost a certainty than an elite NFL passer will hoist the Lombardi Trophy again (Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Russell Wilson) or a former Pro Bowler for the first time (Cam Newton, Carson Palmer, Alex Smith).However, there are many career backup quarterbacks that could make the NFL Playoffs and could end up shocking the world if their team gets hot (Brock Osweiler, A.J. McCarron, Brandon Weeden). While it is almost unthinkable that in this era of the NFL where there is so much value placed on a pocket passer that a sub-standard NFL quarterback could win a Super Bowl.This has happened more often than casual football fans can remember. Eight non-active quarterbacks have won Super Bowls and have no realistic shot at Canton enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Sometimes teams win Super Bowls with a great defense, a great head coach, or a stout running game.With quarterbacks dropping like flies in 2015, it isn’t out of the realm of possibility that a so-so quarterback can lead his team to a Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl 50. To prepare for the chance of an undeserving quarterback to hoist the Lombardi Trophy, here are the five worst quarterbacks to lead their teams to Super Bowl victories.5. Joe Theismann: Super Bowl XVII, Washington RedskinsJoe Theismann has been a relevant name in the football world since he was a standout quarterback at the University of Notre Dame from 1969 to 1971. He’s earned enshrinement in the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003. Theismann changed the pronunciation of his surname to rhyme with the award he contended for in the 1971 Heisman Trophy, ultimately going to Standford’s Jim Plunkett, a two-time Super Bowl champion with the Oakland Raiders.Theismann is perhaps best known for two things in the NFL: leading the Washington Redskins to two Super Bowls, winning Super Bowl XVII over the Miami Dolphins, and suffering arguably the most gruesome leg injury in NFL history on a blind side sack from the New York Giants Lawrence Taylor in 1985. That hit ended Theismann’s career while he was still in his prime.What hurts Theismann the most in this list is that his head coach in Washington Joe Gibbs won two more Super Bowls with two other quarterbacks in Doug Williams and Mark Rypien. Though Theismann was a two-time Pro Bowler, his ability to be seamlessly replaced hurts his stock in Super Bowl winning quarterbacks. It doesn’t help that Theismann’s 1982 Redskins won that Super Bowl during a strike-shortened year. People tend to gloss over championships that come in shortened seasons.Had Theismann not have gotten hurt in 1985 by Taylor’s crushing hit, he may have put together a more legitimate Super Bowl run and may have possibly put together a Canton-worthy career. Sure, Theismann is an all-time great in Washington, but when putting his name up to some of the very best to have won Lombardi trophies, he comes up a tad short.4. Jeff Hostetler: Super Bowl XXV, New York GiantsJeff Hostetler was the long-time backup quarterback to the New York Giants Phil Simms in the mid-to-late 1980s. Hostetler was a great collegiate player at West Virginia, but his opportunities in the NFL came after Simms got hurt.People often assume that Simms was quarterbacking the Giants during their second Super Bowl of the Bill Parcells era, where in fact Hostetler led New York to a Super Bowl XXV victory over the Buffalo Bills.His career took off to some degree after beating the Bills, earning a Pro Bowl in 1994, but it was a missed field goal by Bills kicker Scott Norwood that gave the Giants a 20-19 victory in Super Bowl XXV.The Giants were a great team under Parcells, but fans alike associate the strong quarterbacking of the Giants during that era to Simms and not Hostetler. Hostetler for a brief period was one of the better passers in the early 1990s before retiring as a member of the Washington Redskins in 1998.Combined with his only Pro Bowl coming as a member of the Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders, Hostetler won his two Super Bowls as a backup quarterback and thanks to a missed field goal by the Super Bowl cursed Bills of the early 1990s. He effectively game managed in his 15-year NFL career, but Hostetler isn’t one of the all-time greats that hoisted a Lombardi Trophy by any means.3. Brad Johnson: Super Bowl XXXVII, Tampa Bay BuccaneersBrad Johnson was always a good, but never a great quarterback during his playing days. Johnson spent nine of his 17 seasons as an NFL quarterback playing for the Minnesota Vikings over two stretches. The two-time Pro Bowler was at his best in the late 1990s to early 2000s, but is best known for quarterbacking the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the franchise’s only Super Bowl victory to date.Johnson was a good player, but it was the fearsome Tampa 2 Defense that put the Buccaneers on the map in the late 1990s to the mid 2000s. Players like Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, John Lynch, and Ronde Barber were all superstars on the defensive side of the ball and all will forever be enshrined in Canton someday soon.During Johnson’s time in Tampa Bay, the Buccaneers’ best offensive playmaker was its fullback in Mike Alstott, who could also deserve some Canton recognition in his own right. Essentially in 2002, almost any game-manager at quarterback could have complemented that all-time great 2002 Tampa 2 Defense to a Super Bowl victory.It’s not that Johnson was a bad quarterback that year (he did make a Pro Bowl), but he is grossly overshadowed by the Hall of Fame defense and the big time personality of then new head coach Jon Gruden.Johnson is one of the top five quarterbacks to have played for the Buccaneers in their 40 years as an NFL franchise, but he isn’t anywhere close to the upper echelon of Super Bowl winning quarterbacks.2. Trent Dilfer: Super Bowl XXXV, Baltimore RavensTrent Dilfer may go down as one of the best quarterbacks to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but that isn’t saying much as there are few teams with a worse quarterback history than Tampa Bay. Dilfer is an analyst now, but is best remembered for being the starting quarterback for when the Buccaneers started to turn things around and for winning a Super Bowl as the a member of the 2000 Baltimore Ravens.The 2000 Baltimore Ravens are another one of those all-time great defenses. It was the season that middle linebacker Ray Lewis assumed being the best defensive player in football and didn’t let up on it for the next decade.That Ravens team had depth at all three levels of its defense and a fantastic running back in Jamal Lewis. All Dilfer had to do that year was to hand the ball off to Lewis, not turn the football over, and let the defense take over.Though he played a decent game in Super Bowl XXXV, he didn’t end up winning the Super Bowl MVP that went to Ray Lewis. At that time, it was a rarity for a non-quarterback to win Super Bowl MVP. Dilfer left the Ravens after 2000 and bounced around between the Seattle Seahawks, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Cleveland Browns before retiring after the 2007 season.Quarterbacking opposite an all-time defense, playing against a week NFC foe in the New York Giants, having his best years behind him in Tampa Bay all coincide with Dilfer as being one of the worst starting quarterbacks to have ever won a Super Bowl. It was almost as if the 2000 Ravens won this Super Bowl in spite of Dilfer’s so-so play as a passer.1. Mark Rypien: Super Bowl XXVI, Washington RedskinsLooking back on all the quarterbacks to have won a Super Bowl, Mark Rypien stands as the one nearly everybody overlooks. Rypien was the third different quarterback Joe Gibbs used to win his three Super Bowls. Joe Theismann beat the Miami Dolphins in XVII. Doug Williams destroyed John Elway and the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXII. Rypien bested the Super Bowl cursed Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVI.Though Rypien did win Super Bowl MVP that year, the Redskins blew the Bills out early. Getting to a 24-0 by the early third quarter proved too much for Jim Kelly and the Bills to overcome in Super Bowl XXVI.Of the three quarterbacks Kelly lost and the Bills lost two, Rypien stands as the one he should have bested. Jeff Hostetler’s Giants were victorious by a missed Scott Norwood field goal. Troy Aikman’s Dallas Cowboys teams were almost unstoppable in the Bills’ last two misses.Being the third of three Super Bowl winning quarterbacks for Gibbs and not being the television personality like Joe Theismann is or having the all-around legacy of Doug Williams (Grambling State, Tampa Bay, Washington) definitely hurts Rypien’s legacy as a Super Bowl winning quarterback.link
