Championship Quarterbacks Equal Hall of Fame Quarterbacks

You're an NFL quarterback. You want to make the Hall of Fame. What do you do? Clearly, the easiest way to achieve your goal is to just go ahead and win back-to-back NFL Championships. It's just that simple. Sure you could just pile up tremendous passing numbers like Dan Marino, Warren Moon, Dan Fouts, and Sonny Jurgensen, but that takes years of effort. The numbers don't lie. 12 QB's have won back-to-back titles and 10 of them have been selected to the Hall of Fame. And Tom Brady's going in as soon as he's eligible. So that's 11 out of 12 with Tommy Thompson the odd man out. Here's the list.

Sid Luckman CHI
(1940-1941)

Tommy Thompson PHI
(1948-1949)

Bobby Layne DET
(1952-1953)

Otto Graham CLE
(1954-1955)

Johnny Unitas BAL
(1958-1959)

Bart Starr GB
(1961-1962, 1965-1967)

Bob Griese MIA
(1972-1973)

Terry Bradshaw PIT
(1974-1975, 1978-1979)

Joe Montana SF
(1988-1989)

Troy Aikman DAL
(1992-1993)

John Elway DEN
(1997-1998)

Tom Brady NE
(2003-2004)

Really though, you probably don't even have to win your titles back to back. Just win two or more titles in your career and that should be enough. I count 6 guys who've done it "only" nonconsecutively (Counting those QB's who actually played in title-winning games). Hee's the list of all multiple title-winning passers:


Arnie Herber GB
(1936, 1939)

Sid Luckman CHI
(1940, 1941, 1943, 1946)

Sammy Baugh WAS
(1937, 1942)

Tommy Thompson PHI
(1948, 1949)

Bob Waterfield Cle/L.A. Rams
(1945, 1951)

Bobby Layne DET
(1952, 1953)

Otto Graham CLE
(1950, 1954, 1955)

Johnny Unitas BAL
(1958, 1959, 1970)

Norm VanBrocklin L.A./PHI
(1951, 1960)

Bart Starr GB
(1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1967)

Bob Griese MIA
(1972, 1973)

Terry Bradshaw PIT
(1974, 1975, 1978, 1979)

Roger Staubach DAL
(1971, 1977)

Jim Plunkett OAK/L.A.
(1980, 1983)

Joe Montana SF
(1981, 1984, 1988, 1989)

Troy Aikman DAL
(1992, 1993, 1995)

John Elway DEN
(1997, 1998)

Tom Brady NE
(2001, 2003, 2004)

Poor Jim Plunkett and Tommy Thompson. Well, poor Plunkett anyway. Thompson's dead, he doesn't care. The only active QB this appears relevant to at the moment is Ben Roethlisberger. We know he's not putting up huge passing numbers playing for the Steelers so winning another title's probably going to be what he needs to punch his ticket to Canton.