10 Teams That Would Have Won The Super Bowl If Their QB Didn’t Get Hurt
This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.
Tom Brady, Kurt Warner, Jeff Hostetler, and Nick Foles are the golden reminders that just because your starting QB went down, it doesn’t mean your team’s Super Bowl dreams are over.
But far more often than not, a team’s Super Bowl dreams were dashed when their starting QB went down to injury.
With that, let’s dive into 10 NFL teams that would have totally won a Super Bowl if their QB didn’t suffer a devastating injury.
Which teams could have won the Super Bowl if it weren’t for their QB being injured?
2008 New England Patriots
The Patriots were coming off the most devastating loss in franchise history: A defeat at the hands of Eli Manning’s New York Giants in Super Bowl 42. The loss spoiled the Patriots’ bid to become the first 19-0 team in NFL history.
But Bill Belichick’s group was locked and loaded for the 2008 season. They were the overwhelming odds-on favorites to win Super Bowl 43, bringing back the same star-studded core led by Tom Brady, Randy Moss, and Wes Welker.
Unfortunately, Brady’s bid for redemption ended minutes into the Patriots’ Week 1 opener against the Kansas City Chiefs. He tore his ACL on a hit from renowned “Patriot Killer” Bernard Pollard.
Just when everyone thought the Pats were doomed, little-known backup Matt Cassel stepped in and led them to an 11-win season. Moss and Welker each exceeded 1,000 yards. New England was a top-10 team in both scoring offense and scoring defense.
In pure cruelty, they missed the playoffs despite a tremendous 11-5 record. The Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens snagged the two wild-card spots with 12-4 and 11-5 records, respectively. The surprising Miami Dolphins also won the AFC East over the Pats on a tiebreaker.
If the Patriots had Brady, surely they would have done better than 11-5. And we bet they win the Super Bowl. Peyton Manning’s Colts weren’t so hot that year. The eventual Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers? Uh, Tom Brady destroyed them time and time again in his career.
The Arizona Cardinals, who represented the NFC in the Super Bowl? New England hosted the Redbirds weeks earlier at Gillette Stadium and throttled them 47-7!
Cassel did a wonderful job, given the circumstances. But the Patriots would have won Super Bowl 43 that year if Brady hadn’t gotten injured.
1990 San Francisco 49ers
No team in NFL history has won three straight Super Bowls. But the Joe Montana and Jerry Rice-led 49ers would have accomplished that feat decades ago if not for one vicious hit on “Joe Cool” that changed the course of NFL history.
Coming off their second straight Super Bowl triumph, the 1990 49ers cruised through the regular season with a 14-2 record. After crushing Washington in the Divisional Round, they got to play host to the rival Giants in the NFC Championship Game at Candlestick Park.
With the Giants down to backup QB Jeff Hostetler following Phil Simms’ season-ending injury, the 49ers seemingly had an easy path back to the Super Bowl.
But Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick’s defense kept the 49ers’ offense in check. Montana’s squad was clinging to a 13-9 lead in the fourth quarter, seemingly one touchdown away from icing the game.
Early in the fourth quarter, Montana was drilled from behind on a brutal hit by Giants defensive end Leonard Marshall. Montana suffered multiple injuries on the play, including a broken hand and cracked ribs.
Instead of having the league’s best QB close out the game, the 49ers had to turn to backup Steve Young. A late Roger Craig fumble before the two-minute warning gave the Giants new life, and they stunned the 49ers with a last-second field goal from Matt Bahr.
You know the rest. The Giants barely beat the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl 25 after Scott Norwood’s game-winning kick went “wide right.” Montana missed the entire 1991 season due to injury. Young emerged as the new starting QB, and Montana was done in San Francisco.
If not for that hit from Marshall on Montana? Who knows how much different history would have been? But those 49ers would have won a third straight Super Bowl with a healthy Montana. That’s for sure.
2017 Green Bay Packers
Coming off a blowout loss to the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship Game, the 2017 Packers eyed revenge as Aaron Rodgers and company ran it back with the same core. With the NFC wide open, this was a premier opportunity for the Cheeseheads to get back to the Super Bowl.
Rodgers led the Packers to a hot 4-1 start, including statement wins over the Seattle Seahawks and Dallas Cowboys at Jerry World. The good vibes ended quickly, however, when Rodgers suffered a fractured collarbone in a Week 6 road game against the Minnesota Vikings.
Backup Brett Hundley couldn’t save the day, losing six of nine starts. Rodgers returned for one game late in the year against the Carolina Panthers, but was shut down for the rest of the season after his Packers were eliminated from the playoff race.
The 2017 NFC Championship Game, by the way, featured Nick Foles’ Philadelphia Eagles and Case Keenum’s Minnesota Vikings. It was Foles who won that game en route to a Super Bowl 52 triumph over the Patriots.
Give us a healthy Rodgers on that star-studded 2017 Packers team over those Vikings and Eagles. The Packers would have wiped out the NFC. And if Foles could dice up New England’s defense in the Super Bowl? No doubts on our end that Rodgers would have done the same and led the Packers to a fifth Super Bowl.
2011 Houston Texans
This entry will surprise some folks, so do hear us out.
The Texans were 7-3 with starting QB Matt Schaub before he suffered a season-ending foot injury. Backup Matt Leinart played one game before breaking his collarbone. Houston had to put in third-stringer TJ Yates. Before he took over, the Texans were in the driver’s seat for the AFC’s No. 1 seed.
Yates’ struggles saw Houston falter to the No. 3 seed with a 10-6 record. They ousted the Cincinnati Bengals in the Wild Card Round before falling 20-13 to the Baltimore Ravens in the Divisional Round.
The AFC was weak that year. If Schaub were healthy, Houston would probably finish as the top seed. With prime Arian Foster and Andre Johnson and a star-studded defense led by JJ Watt, Houston could have easily run through the AFC over Baltimore and a not-super-deep Patriots team.
And who would you have taken in Super Bowl 56? A fluky 9-7 Giants team? Or arguably the NFL’s deepest team of 2011? We know who we’d take.
2020 New Orleans Saints
Drew Brees missed four games in the midst of the 2020 season after fracturing his ribs and suffering a collapsed lung. However, Taysom Hill went 3-1 in relief of Brees, and the Saints finished as the NFC’s No. 2 seed with a 12-4 record.
The Saints cruised past the Chicago Bears in the Wild Card Round, but fell 30-20 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Divisional Round. The Bucs went on to win the Super Bowl.
After the season, Brees revealed that he only felt right for one game that year. He had played through a torn rotator cuff, a torn fascia, and an abdominal injury. And it was clear he had almost nothing left when he threw three picks in that Divisional Round loss to Tampa.
If Brees were healthy, the Saints would have easily beaten Tampa Bay. They crushed them in two regular-season meetings. The defense kept Tom Brady in check. He was just fortunate that the Bucs’ D forced four takeaways in that win.
A healthy Brees also beats the Packers at Lambeau Field in the NFC Championship, because the Packers choke every year. And that vaunted Saints pass rush would have also destroyed Patrick Mahomes in Super Bowl 55.
If not for a basically completely broken down body, even Brees at 50-60 percent would have done enough to help New Orleans win it all that year. It’s a true shame he didn’t get to retire a champion like John Elway or Peyton Manning.
2021 Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens were sitting pretty at 8-3 with six games to go. Lamar Jackson was rolling, and the AFC was wide-open. Maybe this was their time?
Nope. Jackson suffered an ankle injury that sidelined him for Baltimore’s final four games. They finished 8-9 to miss the playoffs. Three of their final four losses were decided by three points or less. In other words, Jackson on his own wins all those games, and Baltimore wins the AFC North over the 10-win Bengals.
Baltimore would have won the AFC, too. The top-seeded Tennessee Titans were frauds. The Chiefs weren’t scary that year, and Baltimore beat them in the regular season. Considering the Los Angeles Rams only won 20-19 over Tyler Huntley in Week 17.
Give us the 2021 Ravens as your Super Bowl champs if Lamar plays all 17 games.
2014 Arizona Cardinals
In their first year together, Bruce Arians and Carson Palmer almost led Arizona to a surprise playoff appearance in 2013, but a 10-6 finish wasn’t enough.
Expectations were high for Arizona heading into the ensuing 2014 season. And Palmer delivered early.
He won all six of his starts, throwing for 11 touchdowns and only three interceptions. Unfortunately, the good vibes ended when he suffered a season-ending ACL tear in a game against the St. Louis Rams.
The season wasn’t quite over, though. Backup Drew Stanton played well in relief and won five of his eight starts. Then, in a case of classic Arizona Cardinals misfortunes, Stanton suffered a knee injury and had to miss the year. Though Arizona got into the playoffs with an 11-5 record, they stood no chance with third-stringer Ryan Lindley.
The injuries to Palmer and Stanton cost Arizona the NFC West over the Seattle Seahawks. The Cardinals had to visit the Carolina Panthers in the Wild Card Round, where they fell 27-16.
If Palmer were healthy, Arizona would have won the Super Bowl. Why? Because Palmer and Arians owned the Seahawks. They would have finished as the NFC’s top seed. And as good as the Super Bowl 49 champion Patriots were? They wouldn’t have had many answers for Arians’ explosive offense led by Palmer, Larry Fitzgerald, Michael Floyd, and John Brown.
And Arizona’s lights-out defense could have put the clamps on Brady. Patrick Peterson, Antonio Cromartie, and Tyrann Mathieu would have given that offense fits. To say nothing of the Calais Campbell-led pass rush.
1993 Miami Dolphins
The 1992 Dolphins went 11-5 and reached the AFC Championship Game, where they were dismantled by the Buffalo Bills. But with practically the same core returning, the ‘93 Dolphins were a trendy pick to win Super Bowl 28.
Dan Marino got off to a scorching start in 1993. He had eight touchdowns, three interceptions, and a 95.9 passer rating in five games, leading Miami to a 4-1 start. But the good vibes ended when Marino suffered a torn Achilles tendon in Week 6 against the Cleveland Browns, abruptly ending his season.
Backup Scott Mitchell played well in relief and had Miami on the cusp of a playoff berth, sitting at 9-2 with five games to go. Instead, the Dolphins endured a historic collapse and dropped their final five games to miss the playoffs.
Three of those losses were decided by a single point, which is why we know they would have made the playoffs with Marino. Having beaten eventual AFC champion Buffalo earlier in the year, you can bet Marino would have bested them in the playoffs.
And yeah, they would have beaten the Dallas Cowboys in the Super Bowl…keeping in mind Miami won at Texas Stadium with Steve DeBerg behind center.
2025 Denver Broncos
Call it recency bias all you want. But you really think the Broncos would have lost the AFC Championship Game to the Patriots if Bo Nix had started over career backup Jarrett Stidham?
Denver’s second-year QB led the Broncos to the top seed with a 14-3 record. Though the defense did the heavy lifting, Nix was virtually untouchable in crunch time with seven game-winning drives in the regular season and five fourth-quarter comebacks.
Nix outdueled Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills to win 33-30 in overtime of a thrilling Divisional Round clash. Shortly after the win, however, Denver learned that its star QB was done for the year after breaking a bone in his ankle.
The Broncos had to ride Jarrett Stidham, who had two brutal turnovers in a 10-7 loss to the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. Denver wins that game by double digits with a healthy Nix. And with the way Nix and that defense had been playing, they would have totally bested Sam Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl 60.
2007 San Diego Chargers
Philip Rivers tore his ACL in the Chargers’ thrilling Divisional Round win over the Indianapolis Colts. Billy Volek played hero in San Diego’s comeback win, and looked poised to start in the AFC Championship Game against New England.
But in a remarkable act of resilience and courage, Rivers decided to play in the AFC title game with a torn ACL. The Pats were a mammoth 14-point favorite, but Rivers and the Bolts wouldn’t go away quietly.
Unfortunately, Rivers was clearly limited and basically operating at less than 50 percent. The Chargers picked off Tom Brady three times, but lost 21-12, unable to punch it in during all their red zone trips.
Surely, a healthy Rivers, coupled with the Chargers’ gutsy performance on D, would have spoiled New England’s perfect season right then and there. And, well, we would have bet on Rivers and those star-studded Bolts over Eli Manning’s underdog Giants in the Super Bowl. Not like Eli had the Chargers’ number the way he had New England’s, after all.
