[jwplayer FaLmXAOx-ThvAeFxT]
There is no competition at all for the best Detroit Lions quarterback of the Super Bowl era. Matthew Stafford is the only option.
The analysts at ESPN rightly agreed on Stafford. But in their ranking of the best and worst QB for each team in the last 54 years, there is some room for debate on who the worst has been for the Lions.
ESPN settled on Andre Ware. Based on the explanation ESPN gave, it seems he barely edged out Joey Harrington and did so on the basis of how quickly he flamed out after being a top-10 overall pick.
Worst QB: Andre Ware. Most probably remember Joey Harrington (2002 third overall pick) as the Lions’ biggest bust, but former Heisman Trophy winner Ware was the seventh overall pick in 1990, and he made only six starts and threw five touchdown passes in his career. Harrington at least made 55 starts with Detroit.
Ironically enough, Ware spent years at ESPN working as a college football analyst.
I would like to nominate Rusty Hilger and his 1988 abomination that helped lead to the need to reach for Ware in the 1990 NFL Draft. Hilger completed a league-worst 41 percent of his passes and threw 12 INTs against just seven TDs in his one season (nine starts) in Detroit. Granted the stakes and expectations weren’t as high, but that’s an astonishingly awful performance for Hilger in that era.
Chuck Long throwing 50 percent more INTs than TDs, and going 4-17 as a starter as a first-round pick deserves strong consideration too. Jeff Komlo was no great shakes, either.