There are many high-quality quarterbacks in the NFL. Unfortunately for them, though, there can only be one quarterback who wins the Super Bowl every year.
Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow and a few other star quarterbacks in today’s game certainly understand that pain. They’ve been blocked by Patrick Mahomes for much of their early careers, with the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback winning three of the last six Super Bowls entering the 2025 season.
Mahomes isn’t the first quarterback to box out his counterparts from winning a Super Bowl. There have been a few quarterbacks who’ve been able to take down Mahomes and the Chiefs in the postseason, with Jalen Hurts being the most recent as he led the Philadelphia Eagles to a dominant win in Super Bowl LIX.
So, as a handful of top quarterbacks in today’s game seek their first ring, let’s take a look at the best quarterbacks who didn’t win a Super Bowl in NFL history.
(Active players were excluded from this list.)
10 best quarterbacks to never win a Super Bowl
10. Donovan McNabb
Early in his career, McNabb was just a win or two away from winning the Super Bowl on a handful of occasions. In fact, he led the Philadelphia Eagles to four straight NFC Championship game appearances from 2001-04, losing the first three of those games before finally winning in the fourth appearance. However, McNabb and the Eagles lost to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XVIII, 24-21. He made it back to the NFC Championship Game four years later, but lost again. McNabb finished his career as a six-time Pro Bowler, leading the Eagles to more postseason appearances (eight) than not (three) during his time in Philadelphia.
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9. Dan Fouts
Statistically ahead of his time as a passer, Fouts was able to turn the Chargers into a playoff contender during his peak seasons as a player. But he only made it to the AFC Championship Game twice, losing to the Raiders in 1980 before falling in the “Freezer Bowl” to the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1981 season. Still, Fouts was the NFL’s leading passer in the late 1970s through the early 1980s, becoming the first player to throw for 4,000 yards in consecutive seasons. He won Offensive Player of the Year in 1982, throwing for nearly 3,000 yards (2,883) in just nine games. He finished his career with six Pro Bowl nods and was later inducted into the Hall of Fame.
8. Steve McNair
McNair was one of the quarterbacks on this list who came really close to winning a Super Bowl. In Super Bowl XXXIV, McNair nearly orchestrated a game-tying drive in the final minutes, but his completion to Tennessee Titans wide receiver Kevin Dyson fell one yard short of the goal line, giving the Rams the victory in that game. McNair never made it back to the Super Bowl after that, reaching the AFC Championship Game again with the Titans in 2002 before losing to the Raiders. He was named co-MVP a year later, earning one of his three Pro Bowl nods that season.
7. Carson Palmer
Palmer’s best shot at a Super Bowl arguably came in 2005, when he led the Bengals to an 11-5 record as he became one of the league’s best passers that season. But he suffered a brutal knee injury on his first dropback in the Bengals’ opening-round loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Palmer was able to get the Bengals back to the postseason a few years later in 2009, but he didn’t have a major breakthrough again until he joined the Arizona Cardinals in 2013. He quarterbacked Arizona to three winning seasons to start his time there, but he missed the Cardinals’ 2014 playoff appearance due to injury. Palmer was able to lead them to the NFC Championship Game in 2015, but the Cardinals were blown out by the Carolina Panthers. Palmer’s career ended a few years later as he retired a three-time Pro Bowler.
6. Warren Moon
Moon was one of the game’s most consistent quarterbacks from the late 1980s into the mid-1990s, proving to be a stable force for the Houston Oilers. However, he wasn’t able to reach a conference title game once in his career. The closest he came was when he quarterbacked a 12-4 Oilers squad that lost to a Joe Montana-led Kansas City Chiefs team in the 1993 AFC Divisional Round. Still, Moon was one of the best quarterbacks of his era, leading the league in passing yards on multiple occasions as he was named a Pro Bowler nine times before being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
5. Fran Tarkenton
Tarkenton’s early seasons came before the first Super Bowl, which was played in the 1967 season, but he helped the Minnesota Vikings become a contender during his second stint with the team in the mid-1970s. He led them to three Super Bowls in four seasons, winning MVP in the one season that the Vikings didn’t reach the Super Bowl during that stretch (1975). Each of the Vikings’ Super Bowl losses was relatively decisive, though, losing by double digits in all three. Still, Tarkenton had a legendary career, being named a Pro Bowler on nine occasions as he’s been widely regarded as the first great dual-threat quarterback in NFL history.
4. Jim Kelly
Similar to McNair, Kelly was just yards away from possible Super Bowl glory. He nearly led the Buffalo Bills to victory over the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXV, but Scott Norwood’s game-winning field goal attempt in the final seconds went wide right. While the Bills made the Super Bowl in each of the next three seasons, that was the closest Kelly and Buffalo came to winning it all. As painful as four straight Super Bowl losses can be, though, you obviously have to have a great deal of talent to even make it there that many times. Kelly certainly had that talent, earning five Pro Bowls in his career as he was one of the best quarterbacks of the 1990s.
3. Matt Ryan
Another quarterback on this list with a painful Super Bowl loss, Ryan was on the wrong side of arguably the most memorable Super Bowl in history. His Atlanta Falcons appeared well on track to win Super Bowl LI, before blowing a 28-3 lead to the Patriots and losing in overtime. The four-time Pro Bowler was arguably one of the best quarterbacks of his generation as well, but he had the tough task of sharing a conference with Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees in their primes.
2. Philip Rivers
Speaking of quarterbacks who fell victim to having to get by other iconic quarterbacks — Rivers arguably had the two best quarterbacks of all-time in his conference during the prime of his career. He was actually able to lead the Chargers to an upset over Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts in the 2007 playoffs, but fell to Tom Brady’s Patriots in the AFC Championship Game a week later. That was the only time that Rivers was able to make it to the NFL’s final four in his career, but he proved he could hang with some of the best as he was named a Pro Bowler eight times.
1. Dan Marino
For better or worse, Marino has become the Tier 1 example of an all-time great who never won a title. Marino was ahead of his time as a quarterback, throwing for over 5,000 yards in his second season in the league in 1984. He also reached the Super Bowl that year, but the Miami Dolphins’ loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XIX was the only time Marino ever played in a Super Bowl. Marino remained one of the game’s elite quarterbacks for well over a decade after that loss, with no one touching his single-season passing yards record for 20 years. He was named a Pro Bowler nine times and won an MVP in his career, leading the Dolphins to the postseason 10 times in his 17 seasons as their starting quarterback. He finished his career as the NFL’s all-time leading passer as well, making him a sure-fire Hall of Famer who never won the big one.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
- Randall Cunningham
- Boomer Esiason
- Ken Anderson
- Cam Newton
- Vinny Testaverde
- Dave Krieg
- Sonny Jurgenson
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