Top 50 NFL Quarterbacks: #46 - Norm Van Brocklin

Norm Van Brocklin

Norm Van Brocklin may not be a household name, but he was a great quarterback way back in the 1950's, winning titles with two different teams and setting a huge record that has still never been broken.

He began his career in 1949 with the Los Angeles Rams, but the team already had a star quarterback named Bob Waterfield, so he hardly played as a rookie. After that season, the Rams got a new coach with a new approach, a platoon system at quarterback that gave each of them equal time. It worked well, with the Rams advancing to the title game, which they lost 30-28.

The following year the Rams returned to the NFL championship game and earned their revenge, beating the Cleveland Browns 24-17 on Van Brocklin's first-ever playoff TD, a 73-yard pass late in the 4th quarter. That play enabled them to overcome Waterfield's two earlier interceptions, and Van Brocklin was a champ for the first time.

1951 was also the season that Van Brocklin set his most famous record. In the season opener, the Rams were hosting the New York Yanks, who would finish in last place, and Waterfield was out with an injury, so Van Brocklin got to take every snap of the game. That perfect set of circumstances led to him throwing for 554 yards, a record that still stands 68 years later. He also threw 5 touchdowns in that game, which was a huge blowout for the future champs.

The next year the Rams lost a tiebreaker game to Detroit after the regular season, which kept them from their 4th straight championship game, and Waterfield retired after the season ended, which handed the quarterback reins exclusively to Van Brocklin for the first time. The following season was one of his best, with new career highs in passing yards, touchdowns, and TD:INT ratio, but it was also the first time in his career that his team missed the playoffs.

He continued to be one of the better quarterbacks in the league for several more years with the Rams, but only made it back to the title game once more, another loss to Cleveland in 1955. He had won a title in 1951, but had yet to win one as a starter. He grew tired of LA's offensive scheme and decided to retire after the 1957 season, only to unretire after being told he would be traded to Philadelphia.

When he arrived, the Eagles had missed the playoffs 8 straight years, and they did no better in his first season with the new squad, but they improved the following season, posting a winning record for the first time in nearly a decade, then made the big jump in 1960, earning the best record in the league at 10-2. Van Brocklin also won the league MVP honor that season, with 2471 yards and 24 touchdowns, both among the league leaders.

Because they won the Eastern Division, they got to play in the 1960 championship game, in which they faced the Green Bay Packers. The Eagles won that game 17-13 behind 204 yards and a touchdown from Van Brocklin, and he finally earned his title as a starter. He retired a couple weeks after the game to begin a career as a coach, which didn't go nearly as well, but he remains the only quarterback to beat the Packers in a playoff game while Vince Lombardi was the coach.

Other than his one huge single-game passing record, Van Brocklin didn't do anything super flashy during his career, but was a very good quarterback for an entire decade and won 2 NFL titles while narrowly missing a third. That is enough to say that he deserves a place among the all-time greats.