It's hard to believe what we saw last night. Not only was it one of the more unbelievable comebacks in NFL history, regular season or playoffs, but it was also one of the unlikeliest turnarounds. Rare is a quarterback so bad and so good in the same game.
The Jaguars beat the Chargers 31-30, after falling behind 27-0. That deficit came from Trevor Lawrence throwing 4 interceptions. Seldom in playoff history has a quarterback after done that and then also thrown a bunch of touchdowns, and almost as seldom has he ever come out a winner.
In the Super Bowl era, there have been 36 other instances of a quarterback throwing 4 or more interceptions in a game. Of those 36 passers, only one of them has also thrown 4 touchdowns -- only one of them threw more than 2. That was Ben Roethlisberger in a wild shootout with Cleveland a couple of years ago.
Roethlisberger lost that game, as did 34 of other quarterbacks to throw 4 interceptions. The only ones besides Lawrence to actually win their game were Russell Wilson, in the 2014 NFC Championship Game, and Joe Ferguson against the Jets back in 1981. Most will remember the Wilson game, against the Packers where Seattle trailed throughout but recovered a late onside kick, then won in overtime.
So pretty rare that a quarterback wins a game like that one.
Previous 4-interception playoff games in the Super Bowl era are shown below, sorted by touchdown passes in those games. Quarterbacks who won, all three of them, are in bold. Search tools at pro-football-reference.com were used in building this table.
| QUARTERBACKS WITH 4 INTERCEPTIONS IN PLAYOFFS, 1967-PRESENT | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Team | Opp | Result | Cmp | Att | Yds | TD | Int |
| 2022 | Trevor Lawrence | JAX | LAC | W 31-30 | 28 | 47 | 288 | 4 | 4 |
| 2020 | Ben Roethlisberger | PIT | Cle. | L 37-48 | 47 | 68 | 501 | 4 | 4 |
| 2013 | Andrew Luck | IND | at N.E. | L 22-43 | 20 | 41 | 331 | 2 | 4 |
| 2002 | Rich Gannon | OAK | T.B. | L 21-48 | 24 | 44 | 272 | 2 | 5 |
| 2001 | Brett Favre | GNB | at St.L. | L 17-45 | 26 | 44 | 281 | 2 | 6 |
| 1996 | Drew Bledsoe | NWE | G.B. | L 21-35 | 25 | 48 | 253 | 2 | 4 |
| 1995 | Stan Humphries | SDG | Ind. | L 20-35 | 23 | 47 | 292 | 2 | 4 |
| 1991 | Jim Kelly | BUF | Was. | L 24-37 | 28 | 58 | 275 | 2 | 4 |
| 1981 | Joe Ferguson | BUF | at NYJ | W 31-27 | 17 | 34 | 268 | 2 | 4 |
| 1981 | Richard Todd | NYJ | Buf. | L 27-31 | 28 | 51 | 377 | 2 | 4 |
| 2015 | Carson Palmer | ARI | at Car. | L 15-49 | 23 | 40 | 235 | 1 | 4 |
| 2014 | Russell Wilson | SEA | G.B. | W 28-22 (OT) | 14 | 29 | 209 | 1 | 4 |
| 2008 | Jake Delhomme | CAR | Ari. | L 13-33 | 17 | 34 | 205 | 1 | 5 |
| 2008 | Chad Pennington | MIA | Bal. | L 9-27 | 25 | 38 | 252 | 1 | 4 |
| 2004 | Brett Favre | GNB | Min. | L 17-31 | 22 | 33 | 216 | 1 | 4 |
| 2003 | Peyton Manning | IND | at N.E. | L 14-24 | 23 | 47 | 237 | 1 | 4 |
| 1995 | Scott Mitchell | DET | at Phi. | L 37-58 | 13 | 29 | 155 | 1 | 4 |
| 1991 | Mark Vlasic | KAN | at Buf. | L 14-37 | 9 | 20 | 124 | 1 | 4 |
| 1982 | Dan Fouts | SDG | at Mia. | L 13-34 | 15 | 34 | 191 | 1 | 5 |
| 1980 | Tommy Kramer | MIN | at Phi. | L 16-31 | 19 | 39 | 209 | 1 | 5 |
| 1977 | Bob Avellini | CHI | at Dal. | L 7-37 | 15 | 25 | 177 | 1 | 4 |
| 1972 | Mike Phipps | CLE | at Mia. | L 14-20 | 9 | 23 | 131 | 1 | 5 |
| 2015 | Brian Hoyer | HOU | K.C. | L 0-30 | 15 | 34 | 136 | 0 | 4 |
| 2001 | Brad Johnson | TAM | at Phi. | L 9-31 | 22 | 36 | 202 | 0 | 4 |
| 2000 | Kerry Collins | NYG | Bal. | L 7-34 | 15 | 39 | 112 | 0 | 4 |
| 1992 | Stan Humphries | SDG | at Mia. | L 0-31 | 18 | 44 | 140 | 0 | 4 |
| 1991 | Chris Miller | ATL | at Was. | L 7-24 | 17 | 32 | 178 | 0 | 4 |
| 1991 | Todd Marinovich | RAI | at K.C. | L 6-10 | 12 | 23 | 140 | 0 | 4 |
| 1990 | Jay Schroeder | RAI | at Buf. | L 3-51 | 13 | 31 | 150 | 0 | 5 |
| 1983 | Gary Danielson | DET | at S.F. | L 23-24 | 24 | 38 | 236 | 0 | 5 |
| 1982 | Richard Todd | NYJ | at Mia. | L 0-14 | 15 | 37 | 103 | 0 | 5 |
| 1981 | Doug Williams | TAM | at Dal. | L 0-38 | 10 | 29 | 187 | 0 | 4 |
| 1979 | Dan Fouts | SDG | Hou. | L 14-17 | 25 | 47 | 333 | 0 | 5 |
| 1978 | Dan Pastorini | HOU | at Pit. | L 5-34 | 12 | 26 | 96 | 0 | 5 |
| 1977 | Craig Morton | DEN | Dal. | L 10-27 | 4 | 15 | 39 | 0 | 4 |
| 1973 | Roger Staubach | DAL | Min. | L 10-27 | 10 | 21 | 89 | 0 | 4 |
| 1968 | Len Dawson | KAN | at Oak. | L 6-41 | 17 | 36 | 253 | 0 | 4 |
--Andy Richardson