Choosing, and if you are lucky enough, finding a franchise quarterback is much the same as the unpredictable and at best dicey endeavor of falling in love. It hardly ever happens when you are trying and no matter how well things look you just never know how it is going to turn out.
Take a look at the career of Trent Dilfer. For six years, this guy got burned in Tampa Bay. Branded as yet another failing but initially well-hyped young quarterback, Dilfer moved on to Baltimore and ended up starting. His play was less than sensational, but he was steady and reliable. So reliable, in fact, that he won a Super Bowl.
Trent Dilfer with a Super Bowl ring? I guess miracles don't just happen on ice. But something was missing for the Ravens and they acted like an old Jewish woman telling her son to drop the Goy. Whatever the reason, Dilfer's reward was a pink slip. Meanwhile, the Ravens haven't had much passing success since.
But the NFL isn't filled with just jilted at the alter stories. Pro football's version of hitting the jackpot and marrying up is the account of Tom Brady. If the Jets don't knockout Drew Bledsoe in 2000, this former sixth-round draft choice may have been picking his nose on the sidelines for his career instead of picking up three Super Bowl trophies. Brady is only the fourth quarterback to win at least three championships, and only the second to have done so within four seasons.
The first quarterback to win three Super Bowls in four years was Troy Aikman. After taking the Cowboys from literally worst to first in four years, he solidified his place in football history. But in the end, Aikman was forced to retire when the Cowboys told him they were not interested in paying him a multimillion-dollar roster bonus and he was unable to find another team to offer him a starting position.
It was either be a future Hall of Famer unceremoniously cut, or retire with honor. Since Aikman's retirement, the Cowboys are still on a search for another successful marriage. Sometimes, it seems even trying mail order brides.
Four-time champion Joe Montana, who some consider the greatest quarterback ever, was forced to move on in the face of a youth movement in San Francisco named Steve Young. While Montana was still performing better than most guys half his age, the 49ers' second marriage proved worthy of risk as Young gave San Francisco a championship in 1995. Young's career ended with a boom, but not the kind he'd like to (or can) remember, as he lay dormant on the field for what seemed an eternity. When the camera went tight to his closed eyes, I was convinced he was dead.
The fact is, it really doesn't matter how successful a quarterback is, was, or is going to be. When you can't perform, better call your lawyer because the divorce papers are on the way.
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