Super Bowl LIV: 5 reasons the 49ers can beat the Chiefs
By Chris Wilson
No. 5: The Best Quarterback Doesn’t Always Win
When comparing two seemingly equally matched teams, it’s easy to say the edge goes to whichever team has the better quarterback. Especially in the Super Bowl, when quarterback play factors into so much more of the winner’s eventual success.
Few rational 49ers fans would make a serious argument that Jimmy Garoppolo is better than Patrick Mahomes at the present moment. That’s fine, by the way.
The best quarterback doesn’t always win the big game. In fact, recent history suggests the opposite tends to happen.
In 2012, New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning was not better than New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Yet, the Giants won the Super Bowl that year.
In 2014, the Seattle Seahawks had an up-and-coming quarterback in Russell Wilson, but he wasn’t better at the moment than Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning. Seattle won, though.
A year later, Manning was no longer his Hall of Fame-caliber self, yet Denver dominated the 2015 MVP, Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, in Super Bowl 50.
Then, in 2018, Philadelphia Eagles backup quarterback Nick Foles outplayed Brady and the Patriots, earning Super Bowl MVP honors and Philly’s first post-merger championship season.
Garoppolo and the 49ers proved this to be true in the NFC Championship game, as well. Rodgers, statistically, was the better signal-caller. The future Hall of Famer threw for well over 300 yards with two touchdowns against two interceptions, the last one being out of desperation.
Garoppolo, meanwhile, passed just eight times. Yet he was on the winning side.
And the same trend isn’t immune to being revealed in the Super Bowl, either.