The evolution of passer rating

Here's a look at the league-wide passer rating in every season since 1940, which generally coincides with the dawn of the era of the quarterback as passing specialist. (The history is outlined in our myth-breaking work of staggering genius.)

 

You'll notice that league-wide passer ratings have climbed dramatically over the years. This means that an 85 passer rating in 1977, for example, is far more impressive than an 85 passer rating in 2004.

 

The 1977 season marked the height of the Dead Ball Era, when scoring in modern NFL history reached its low point. The 1977 season, not so coincidentally, also featured the lowest league-wide passer rating (60.7) of any year since 1956. The 2004 season featured the highest league-wide passer rating (82.8) in NFL history.

 

This chart shows the overall league passer rating in each year and the individual passer rating that season. The final column shows the individual leader's rating as a percentage of the league-wide rating. It's this number that trumps raw passer rating, puts it into historical context and tells us who truly had the better passing season.

 

This number shows us, for example, that Kenny Stabler's 103.4 rating in 1976 was more impressive than Dan Marino's 108.9 rating in his record-breaking 1984 season and even more impressive than Peyton Manning's 121.4 rating in the Indy quarterback's record-breaking 2004 season.

 

Stabler exceeded the league-wide passer rating by 54.3 percent in 1976. Marino exceeded the league-wide rating by 43.1 percent in 1984. Manning exceeded the league-wide rating by 46.6 percent in 2004.

 

* A myth-breaking work of staggering genius (includes gratuitous photos of buxom bombshells Pam Anderson and Jane Russell)

* The top 10 post-merger passing seasons

* If you want to sort the numbers yourself, you can upload our sortable Excel spreadsheet of all the data.

 

Year	League Rating	Passing Leader (Team)	Rating	% > League
1940	42.3	Sammy Baugh (Washington)	85.6	102.4%
1941	39.6	Sid Luckman (Chicago)	95.3	140.7%
1942	40.1	Cecil Isbell (Green Bay)	87.0	117.0%
1943	48.4	Sid Luckman (Chicago)	107.5	122.1%
1944	42.2	Frank Filchock (Washington)	86.0	103.8%
1945	47.4	Sammy Baugh (Washington)	109.9	131.9%
1946	47.8	Sid Luckman (Chicago)	71.0	48.5%
1947	57.6	Sammy Baugh (Washington)	92.0	59.7%
1948	60.0	Tommy Thompson (Philly)	98.4	64.0%
1949	53.9	Tommy Thompson (Philly)	84.4	56.6%
1950	52.9	Norm Van Brocklin (L.A. Rams)	85.1	60.9%
1951	55.6	Bob Waterfield (L.A. Rams)	81.8	47.1%
1952	55.5	Tobin Rote (Green Bay)	85.6	54.2%
1953	54.2	Otto Graham (Cleveland)	99.7	83.9%
1954	61.7	Adrian Burk (Philly)	80.4	30.3%
1955	57.2	Otto Graham (Cleveland)	94.0	64.3%
1956	59.6	Ed Brown (Chicago)	83.1	39.4%
1957	63.2	Tommy O'Connell (Cleveland)	93.3	47.6%
1958	63.2	Johnny Unitas (Baltimore)	90.0	42.4%
1959	66.9	Charlie Conerly (N.Y. Giants)	102.7	53.4%
1960	65.2	Milt Plum (Cleveland)	110.4	69.3%
1961	64.8	Billy Wade (Chicago)	93.7	44.6%
1962	72.6	Bart Starr (Green Bay)	90.7	24.9%
1963	71.7	Y.A. Tittle (N.Y. Giants)	104.8	46.2%
1964	71.7	Bart Starr (Green Bay)	97.1	35.4%
1965	73.5	Johnny Unitas (Baltimore)	97.4	32.52%
1966	67.4	Bart Starr (Green Bay)	105.0	55.8%
1967	66.6	Sonny Jurgensen (Washington)	87.3	31.1%
1968	68.6	Bart Starr (Green Bay)	104.3	52.0%
1969	71.6	Bart Starr (Green Bay)	89.9	25.6%
1970	63.8	John Brodie (San Francisco)	93.8	47.0%
1971	62.2	Roger Staubach (Dallas)	104.8	68.5%
1972	66.3	Earl Morral (Miami)	91.0	37.3%
1973	64.9	Roger Staubach (Dallas)	94.6	45.8%
1974	64.2	Ken Anderson (Cincy)	95.7	49.1%
1975	65.6	Ken Anderson (Cincy)	93.9	43.14%
1976	67.0	Ken Stabler (Oakland)	103.4	54.3%
1977	60.7	Bob Griese (Miami)	87.8	44.64%
1978	65.0	Roger Staubach (Dallas)	84.9	30.6%
1979	70.8	Roger Staubach (Dallas)	92.3	30.4%
1980	74.1	Brian Sipe (Cleveland)	91.4	23.3%
1981	72.9	Ken Anderson (Cincy)	98.4	35.0%
1982	73.4	Ken Anderson (Cincy)	95.3	29.8%
1983	75.9	Steve Bartkowski (Atlanta)	97.6	28.6%
1984	76.1	Dan Marino (Miami)	108.9	43.1%
1985	73.6	Ken O'Brien (N.Y. Jets)	96.2	30.7%
1986	74.1	Tommy Kramer (Minnesota)	92.6	25.0%
1987	75.2	Joe Montana (San Francisco)	102.1	35.8%
1988	72.9	Boomer Esiason (Cincy)	97.4	33.61%
1989	75.6	Joe Montana (San Francisco)	112.4	49.2%
1990	77.3	Jim Kelly (Buffalo)	101.2	31.0%
1991	76.2	Steve Young (San Francisco)	101.8	33.6%
1992	75.3	Steve Young (San Francisco)	107.0	42.1%
1993	76.6	Steve Young (San Francisco)	101.5	32.51%
1994	78.4	Steve Young (San Francisco)	112.8	43.9%
1995	79.2	Jim Harbaugh (Indy)	100.7	27.1%
1996	76.8	Steve Young (San Francisco)	97.2	26.6%
1997	77.2	Steve Young (San Francisco)	104.7	35.6%
1998	78.2	Randall Cunningham (Minnesota)	106.0	35.5%
1999	77.1	Kurt Warner (St. Louis Rams)	109.2	41.6%
2000	78.1	Brian Griese (Denver)	102.9	31.7%
2001	78.5	Kurt Warner (St. Louis Rams)	101.4	29.2%
2002	80.4	Chad Pennington (N.Y. Jets)	104.2	29.6%
2003	78.3	Steve McNair (Tennessee)	100.4	28.2%
2004	82.8	Peyton Manning (Indy)	121.4	46.6%
2005	80.1	Peyton Manning (Indy)	104.1	30.0%

By Kerry Byrne