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The first NFL official playoff game was the 1933 NFL Championship Game between the Chicago Bears and New York Giants. A "playoff" game was played in 1932 between the Chicago Bears and Portsmouth Spartans to break a regular season tie, but is recorded in the team record books as a regular season game. Since then there have been a total over 525 NFL playoff games including games from the AFL, but not the AAFC. The following list shows career postseason records for each starting quarterback in the NFL playoffs.
Contents
Wins or losses are credited to the quarterback who started the game for each team, even if he was injured or failed to complete the game.
While many players have won playoff games for two teams, only two have won a championship for different franchises. Tobin Rote was quarterback for the NFL champion 1957 Lions and the AFL champion 1963 Chargers. Peyton Manning was the quarterback for 2006 Colts and the 2015 Broncos.
Note: from 1933–1949 some offenses did not employ a quarterback in the modern sense of the position. Listed below are the "primary passers" for those games, the players that passed the ball most in those games. They may not have actually started the game at quarterback. This format allows Hall of Fame quarterbacks like Sid Luckman and Sammy Baugh to maintain credit for their team's playoff records since they were obviously the top passer for their team. The players involved in such games are marked with an asterisk (*).
Champion starters
The following 53 quarterbacks have led their team to an NFL or AFL title.
Super Bowls before the 1970 AFL–NFL merger are not included in total championship count.
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Sorting Team in ascending order will list all champion quarterbacks for each team in the order they won the title game for their team.
0† is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Winning starters
Tom Brady holds the NFL record for most playoff wins by a quarterback with 25 and the record for most playoff games started (34). Joe Flacco holds the record for most post-season road wins by a quarterback, with 7. For players with 5 or more playoff appearances, Bart Starr holds the record for the highest winning percentage, (.900) and the record for most championships (5 NFL titles and 2 Super Bowl wins vs. AFL teams). Six quarterbacks are undefeated in post-season play but all of them have just a single appearance as a starter except for Frank Reich who has two starts. Hall of Fame quarterback Y. A. Tittle shares the record with Andy Dalton for the highest number of playoff starts without ever winning a game (4). Donovan McNabb and Jim Kelly hold the record for the highest number of playoff wins (9) without winning a championship.
This table lists all quarterbacks who have won a playoff game in the NFL or the AFL.
Sort chart by clicking on heading. Reload page to return to original form.
Sorting 'Teams' in ascending order will list all champion quarterbacks for each team first and in the order they won the title game for their team.
Updated through the Conference Championships, 2016-17 playoffs.
From 1960–1969, NFL and AFL Champs are listed.
Super Bowls listed after NFL-AFL merger.
0† is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Other playoff quarterbacks
Updated through the 2016-17 post season.