Fascinating and Obscure Football Trivia (Part 3) Quiz

Answer: Purdue Boilermakers

Purdue has had 8 quarterbacks that went on to play 10 or more seasons in the NFL. That's more than any other school. Drew Brees played for 20 seasons in the NFL, Len Dawson 19, Bob Griese 14, Gary Danielson 13, Mike Phipps 12, Jim Everett 12, Mark Hermann 12, Kyle Orton 10. If we count Jeff George who only played at Purdue his freshman year before transferring, then Purdue would have 9 quarterbacks. Brees, Dawson, and Griese all won Super Bowls.

Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan State have each only had two quarterbacks that played for 10 or more NFL seasons. The schools that followed behind Purdue are Notre Dame with 6 quarterbacks playing ten or more seasons in the NFL, and Oregon with 5. Eight schools have had 4.

Answer: Mark Murphy

Graduating from Colgate University, Mark Murphy became a safety for the Washington Redskins and was part of their 1983 Super Bowl winning team. After he retired as a player, he attended Georgetown University Law School and got his law degree. He went back to Colgate to become their Athletic Director, and then after that at Northwestern University.

In 2007 he became the President and CEO of the Green Bay Packers. In 2011, the Packers won the Super Bowl, and Murphy got his second Super Bowl ring.

Answer: Had at least 20 touchdowns in both rushing and passing in one college season

All four quarterbacks achieved the feat of 20 or more touchdowns in both rushing and receiving in one season. And amazingly, they all did it in the very same season: 2007. Tebow had 32 TDs passing and 23 TDs rushing for Florida. Kaepernick had 21 TDs passing and 20 rushing for Nevada. Manziel had 26 TDs passing and 21 rushing for Texas A&M, and Newton had 30 passing and 20 rushing for Auburn. Kapernick was a second round pick by the 49ers. Cam Newton had an outstanding quarterback rating his rookie year: 110.4. Tebow had more yards rushing than passing in his freshman year, but after that his passing yards were greater each year.

The exact same thing goes for Cam Newton. Kaepernick's passing yards were more than his rushing every year of college, and so was Manziel's.

Answer: kicker Jason Hanson

Jason Hanson was the place kicker for the Detroit Lions for 21 years, from 1992 to 2012. The Lions are in the same division as the Green Bay Packers and as such, have to play them twice a year every year, once at home and once at the opposition's stadium.

In all those 21 seasons, the Lions have lost playing at Green Bay's storied Lambeau field. On top of that they also played a post-season playoff game against each other at Green Bay, and the Lions lost that one too, making it 22 consecutive games the Lions and thusly Jason Hanson lost when playing at Green Bay.

This is actually and extraordinarily difficult record to hold for several reasons. Firstly, a player would have to be playing in the NFL for that many season (21) when the average NFL player's career is only 3.3 years. Secondly, the player would have to have played pretty much all that time for the same team; out the top 13 players who have played the most games in their career, Hanson (7th most) is the only one to do it with one team.

The others have played for at least three different teams. Thirdly, the team would have to lose each and every one of those 22 games. On an even playing field (no pun intended), the odds of that would be over 1 in over 4 million.

Answer: E. J. Holub

E. J. Holub was an All-American center twice in college playing for Texas Tech. He would also play linebacker for that team. As the sixth draft pick in the 1961 AFL draft, he became an All-Star linebacker, but when he got injured, his mobility suffered so he was switched back to playing center. Holub played linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs in the very first Super Bowl in which the Chiefs lost to the Green Bay Packers 35-10. Three years later in Super Bowl IV, he was the starting center on the offensive line for the Chiefs when they played the Minnesota Vikings, this time winning 23-7. Although linebacker Mike Vrabel won a ring starting on defense for the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI, and did indeed line up as a tight end for one play and caught a touchdown in Super Bowl XXXIX, he did not start on offense.

Answer: Tony Gonzalez

Although tight end Tony Gonzalez is thought to be one of the best players not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he may very likely still get there some day. He is eligible after all, having retired in 2013, which is more than the 5-year requirement that a player be retired before being eligible.

But regardless, he will never be a "Hall of Famer who retired after winning the Super Bowl" because, well, he has never won a Super Bowl. Peyton Manning won Super Bowl 50 for the Denver Broncos and then retired.

He was inducted into the HOF in 2021. Ray Lewis won Super Bowl XLVII, and then retired and was inducted into the Hall in 2018. Jerome Bettis retired after winning Super Bowl XL and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2015.

Answer: Weeb Ewbank

Weeb Ewbank coached Johnny Unitas and the Baltimore Colts in the 1958 NFL Championship game in which the Colts beat the New York Giants in overtime. That game was the first NFL Championship that was televised, and has come to be popularly nicknamed "The Greatest Game Ever Played." The game notably signaled the beginning of the NFL's huge rise in popularity in the country's sports market. Ewbank then coached Joe Namath and the New York Jets in perhaps the grandest upset in NFL history when Namath's guaranteed victory came true and they beat the Baltimore Colts in the third Super Bowl.

However, that NFL vs. AFL championship contest was never called the "Super Bowl" until that very game.

Answer: Steve McNair & Derrick Mason

Boomer Esiason and Rob Moore did it when they were on the 1994 New York Jets, and again when they were together on the 1996 Arizona Cardinals.
Drew Bledsoe and Terry Glenn teamed up for the yardage on the 1999 New England Patriots and then when they were both on the 2005 Dallas Cowboys.
The third pair to do it was Jay Cutler playing with Brandon Marshall on the 2007-2008 Denver Broncos and also with the 2012 Chicago Bears.
Steve McNair and Derrick Mason almost did it: the two players teamed up for 1,000-yard seasons in each year of the 2001-2004 span with the Tennessee Titans. And then they both played for the 2006 and 2007 Baltimore Ravens. In that 2007 season, Mason indeed had 1,087 yards receiving and McNair did indeed have 1,113 yards passing, but McNair only played for 6 games that season. Kyle Boller was the quarterback for the majority of the Ravens' season, thusly McNair and Mason did not pair up for 1,000 yards together on that team.

Answer: Chicago Bears

The New York Jets icon Joe Namath was in fact the first quarterback to pass for 4,000 yards in one season. He passed for 4,007 yards in 1967 and that wasn't even a 16-game season, it was only 14 games. For the Eagles, Donovan McNabb came close, but it wasn't until 2019 that Carson Wentz of the Eagles threw for 4,039 yards.

The Cleveland Browns had only one quarterback to throw a 4,000-yard season, and that was Brian Sipe in 1980, throwing for 4,132 yards. It is the Chicago Bears that have never had a quarterback break the 4,000-yard signpost.

Despite having a legend such as Sid Luckman in the 1940s, and despite having Jim McMahon who won a Super Bowl with the Bears, they're the only team in the NFL to never have a quarterback surpass that plateau, Erik Kramer came close with 3,838 yards in 1995, while Jay Cutler has the four next highest yards passing for the bears after Kramer. Mitchell Trubisky and Rex Grossman passed the 3,000-yard mark but never 4,000.

Answer: Bert Bell

It was on October 11 in 1959 during a game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Coincidentally, the NFL Commissioner at the time Bert Bell, had been an owner of both those teams before becoming Commissioner. Mr. Bell already had issues with his heart in the past, suffering a heart attack in February that year, but in the fourth quarter of the game, Philadelphia's quarterback Norm Van Brocklin threw a touchdown pass to Tommy MacDonald in the end zone, which would win the game for the Eagles.

At about that same time, while sitting in the stands, Bert Bell, who coined the phrase, "on any given Sunday", suffered a heart attack and died. Austin Gunsel became the acting commissioner for the next year until Pete Rozelle was elected to the job.