Quarterback Losses Trivia

by Chase Stuart on July 30, 2014

Can you name the two quarterbacks with the most losses in a single season?

Trivia hint 1	Select Show
Each quarterback lost 15 games.

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One came in 1991; the other in 1980.

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Both were top-three draft picks, but this was not during either player’s rookie season.

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In 1980, Archie Manning went 1-15 as the Saints starter. Eleven years later, Jeff George started every game for the 1-15 Colts.

What about the quarterback with the most losses during his rookie year?

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It wasn’t Troy Aikman (0-11) or David Carr (4-12) or Peyton Manning (3-13); this player had 14 losses.

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After going 1-14 as a rookie, he started just five more games in his career, going 1-4.

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His final victory came in a game where the team used a running back at quarterback for stretches, and threw just seven passes all game.

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Chris Weinke won his first start as a rookie for the Panthers in 2001, but then lost his next fourteen. My favorite Weinke memory is when the team used DeAngelo Williams as a wildcat quarterback against the Falcons in 2006.

What about the most losses during a player’s first two seasons? Two men have done that, but I’ll only be giving hints for one of them.

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The quarterback went 3-23.

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He was a 10th round pick in 1977.

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Despite the ugly start, he managed to stick around for long enough to lose a start at age 44.

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Steve DeBerg was the 49ers quarterback right before the Joe Montana era began.

The other player with 23 losses is also the only player to lose more than 30 starts in his first three seasons.

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The years were 1984 to 1986.

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He went undrafted.

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He should not have gone undrafted.

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After six years in Canada, Warren Moon joined a terrible Houston Oilers team, and it showed. He went 3-13, 4-10, and 5-10 in his first three seasons in Houston. The Oilers, mind you, went 3-22 in 1982 and 1983 before Moon’s arrival.

Finally, the same quarterback is the record-holder for most losses in a quarterback’s first four and first five seasons. No hints this time.

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David Carr. Carr went 22-53 in his first five seasons. His 43 losses through four years is also the most in NFL history.