Five worst NFL quarterbacks with Super Bowl rings
By John Buhler
3. Brad Johnson: Super Bowl XXXVII, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Brad Johnson was always a good, but never a great quarterback during his playing days. Johnson spent nine of his 17 seasons as an NFL quarterback playing for the Minnesota Vikings over two stretches. The two-time Pro Bowler was at his best in the late 1990s to early 2000s, but is best known for quarterbacking the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the franchise’s only Super Bowl victory to date.
Johnson was a good player, but it was the fearsome Tampa 2 Defense that put the Buccaneers on the map in the late 1990s to the mid 2000s. Players like Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, John Lynch, and Ronde Barber were all superstars on the defensive side of the ball and all will forever be enshrined in Canton someday soon.
During Johnson’s time in Tampa Bay, the Buccaneers’ best offensive playmaker was its fullback in Mike Alstott, who could also deserve some Canton recognition in his own right. Essentially in 2002, almost any game-manager at quarterback could have complemented that all-time great 2002 Tampa 2 Defense to a Super Bowl victory.
It’s not that Johnson was a bad quarterback that year (he did make a Pro Bowl), but he is grossly overshadowed by the Hall of Fame defense and the big time personality of then new head coach Jon Gruden.
Johnson is one of the top five quarterbacks to have played for the Buccaneers in their 40 years as an NFL franchise, but he isn’t anywhere close to the upper echelon of Super Bowl winning quarterbacks.
Next: 2. Trent Dilfer