BYU QB Steve Young is in, Jim McMahon snubbed, in The Herd's QB Bracket

With college basketball's March Madness right around the corner, ESPN sports radio host Colin Cowherd has put together a bracket of his own--the QB Bracket. The goal is to determine the greatest NFL quarterback of all-time using a similar 64-player format to that used by the NCAA to determine the men's college basketball champion.

Former Brigham Young Cougars quarterback Steve Young made the field. Super Bowl champion Jim McMahon did not.


Young enters the competition as a 3 seed in the Ryan Leaf Region. He faces 14 seed Michael Vick in the first round. The winner is determined by fan votes. Click here to cast your vote for Young. Voting opened earlier to day and will continue for one week through March 17. Young is off to a commanding early lead. With 11,011 votes cast, Young has received 96 percent of the votes.

If Young wins, and he should, then he will face the winner of 6 seed Sammy Baugh vs. 11 seed Donovan McNabb. Should Young advance all the way to the Elite 8, he is expected to face off with no. 1 seed Joe Montana. Young permanently replaced Montana as the San Francisco 49ers quarterback in 1991 after several stints of injury relief the preceding four seasons. 

Young played two seasons for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and 13 for the 49ers. His finished his 15-year NFL career as the highest rated passer in league history with a quarterback rating of 96.8. He passed for 33,124 yards, completed 64.3 percent of his passes, threw 232 touchdowns and 107 interceptions. Young also rushed for 4,239 yards and 43 touchdowns while averaging 5.9 yards per carry.

Other accomplishments of Young include the following:
  • Six seasons of a passer rating over 100, including a single-season record 112.8 in 1994;
  • Six seasons with over 3,000 yards passing;
  • Two seasons with over 4,000 yards passing;
  • Two MVP awards;
  • One Super Bowl championship;
  • One Super Bowl MVP award;
  • Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee.
One player noticeably absent from the 64 player field is Jim McMahon. In the weeks leading up to today's release of the official bracket, Cowherd had mentioned McMahon as a possible 15 seed. Not including McMahon is a definite snub, and possibly the biggest snub of the entire bracket.

McMahon quarterbacked the Chicago Bears to one of the best teams in NFL history. The 1985 Chicago Bears are regularly debated as being better than the 1972 undefeated Miami Dolphins team. Besides being a two-time Super Bowl champion--once as a starter with the Bears (1985) and once as a back up with the Green Bay Packers (1996)--McMahon holds the Super Bowl record for most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback (2), and second most yards per attempt in the Super Bowl (12.8).

McMahon totaled 18,148 passing yards, 100 touchdowns, and 90 interceptions in his 16 year NFL career. His passer rating was 78.2, and he had 16 rushing touchdowns. McMahon played for seven different NFL teams starting at least once for five of them. If not for injuries, McMahon would have easily made the list.

Current Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler is a 16 seed.

To view the complete QB Bracket, click here.


The Editor appreciates all feedback. He can be reached via email at bluecougarfootball@gmail.com

Comments

  1. Being "snubbed" is usually pretty subjective, but when you Kerry Collins in there, and not Jim NcMahon, I think there is an obvious problem.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love Steve Young, and saw him play at BYU his magical Senior year. I'll vote for him.

    But there's no way he beats Montana, due to the Super Bowl wins.

    ReplyDelete

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