When you think about solid quarterback play in the NFL, some franchises have a long history of signal callers that they can be proud of. The Dallas Cowboys for instance can start with their current solid quarterback Tony Romo and then work their way back through the decades and point out Troy Aikman, Roger Staubach, Danny White. San Francisco can be proud of the Joe Montana-Steve Young era, while Miami and Denver can only look fondly on their one great QB (Marino and Elway respectfully). Other teams like the Indianapolis Colts had to wait 30 years after Unitas to finally get Peyton Manning. And then there are the Detroit Lions. Yesterday during their 38-14 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars they were able to initiate 2 more quarterbacks (Daunte Culpepper and Drew Stanton) to the worst collection of Quarterbacks ever assembled over the last 40 years.
Almost every franchise can name a great Pro Bowl caliber quarterback who lined up under center for them. Theisman, Bradshaw, Moon, Kelly, Stabler, Favre, Plunkett, Esiason, Simms all of these guys were the face of their franchise and led them to some level of success. But when your franchise has only 1 playoff victory since the inception of the Super Bowl in 1967 like Lions, then you have to wonder exactly what collection of garbage was calling signals for them over the last 40 years. Lions Quarterback Bobby Lane won 3 NFL championships for the Lions in the 1950’s and was rewarded by the front office brass by being traded. The curse of Bobby Lane has led to the following collection of quarterbacks who followed him.
Group #1- Hey at least we made the playoffs
Greg Landry-70’   Gary Danielson-82’        Erik Kramer/Rodney Peete-91’,93’
Scott Mitchell-94’,95’,97’      Charlie Batch/Gus Frerotte-99’
This is the cream of the crop if you’re a Lions fan. The weapons were there for most of these guys. Barry Sanders was the games best running back and Herman Moore was a Pro Bowl WR throughout the 90’s. However every single playoff loss (with the 1995 shootout loss to the Eagles the lone exception) occurred because the Lions offense couldn’t get it going. Scott Mitchell’s 1995 season (4,300 yds, 32 TD’s) is really the only exceptional season we’ve seen from a Lions Quarterback since many of us have been alive.
Group #2- Wide Receivers aren’t the only busts we draft
Chuck Long-1986-1989Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Andre Ware-1990-1993Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Joey Harrington-2002-2005
All three were top-12 picks by the Lions, all three were considered can’t miss stars. Only Harrington was a great piano player.
Group 3- Back-Ups who somehow saw playing time
Dan Orlovsky/ Drew Stanton/Daunte Culpepper-Present
Mike McMahon-01’-04’        Frank Reich- 97’-98’     Don Majkowski-95’96’
Stoney Case-00’
Because the Lion’s QB is always brutal, the fans always fall in love with the back-up in Detroit. That is, until they actually see them on the field. Rest assured that no back-up in Detroit has ever had any kind of success anywhere else in football once they left Detroit.
At 0-9 the Lions will most likely earn the #1 pick in the 2009 Draft. So if your wondering why Georgia’s Matt Stafford intentionally scored a 3 on the Wonderlic or why Florida’s Tim Teabow claims in interviews to be allergic to snow, you’ll know why.
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