Twice in five days Justin Fields has thrown 4 touchdowns in games. Is this guy keeping the seat warm for somebody like Caleb Williams or Drake Maye? Or does he still have a chance to be Chicago’s long-term quarterback?
There aren’t many quarterbacks who’ve thrown 4 touchdowns in consecutive games. Since the merger in 1970, it’s been done by only 37 other quarterbacks. Most of those guys are of the badass variety – Manning, Brady, Marino, Mahomes, etc.
With Fields now joining this club, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at that list. Specifically, when we have quarterbacks throwing 4 TDs in back-to-back games, is that an indication that they’re going to successful quarterbacks for the long haul? Or is there more of a luck and hot-hand element, with a bunch of lesser guys also sneaking in?
I took the list of the 38 guys, then blended it with the win-loss records of the players. I see 10 who have losing records as starters, including Billy Volek, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Jameis Winston. With a current win-loss mark of 6-24, Fields ranks last of the group in winning percentage.
For other active quarterbacks, I’ve got them tagged with black dots. Many of these quarterbacks went back-to-back more than once (I think there’s been about 68 streaks). Six quarterbacks had streaks lasting longer than two games, and I’ve added numerical notes after their names. (Peyton Manning, at 5 games, had the longest streak.)
W-L RECORDS OF QBs WITH BACK-TO-BACK GAMES WITH 4 TDs | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Player | Win | Loss | Tie | Pct |
• Patrick Mahomes (3) | 67 | 17 | 0 | .798 |
Tom Brady (4) | 251 | 82 | 0 | .754 |
• Lamar Jackson | 48 | 17 | 0 | .738 |
Peyton Manning (5) | 186 | 79 | 0 | .702 |
• Josh Allen | 55 | 25 | 0 | .688 |
Ben Roethlisberger | 165 | 81 | 1 | .670 |
• Aaron Rodgers | 147 | 76 | 1 | .658 |
Steve Young | 94 | 49 | 0 | .657 |
• Dak Prescott | 64 | 37 | 0 | .634 |
Brett Favre | 186 | 112 | 0 | .624 |
• Russell Wilson (3) | 109 | 67 | 1 | .619 |
Andrew Luck | 53 | 33 | 0 | .616 |
Tony Romo | 78 | 49 | 0 | .614 |
Dan Marino (4) | 147 | 93 | 0 | .613 |
Donovan McNabb | 98 | 62 | 1 | .612 |
Randall Cunningham | 82 | 52 | 1 | .611 |
Drew Brees (3) | 172 | 114 | 0 | .601 |
Kurt Warner | 67 | 49 | 0 | .578 |
Craig Morton | 81 | 62 | 1 | .566 |
Philip Rivers | 134 | 106 | 0 | .558 |
• Joe Burrow | 25 | 20 | 1 | .554 |
• Deshaun Watson | 33 | 29 | 0 | .532 |
• Kirk Cousins | 73 | 66 | 2 | .525 |
Drew Bledsoe | 98 | 95 | 0 | .508 |
Jake Plummer | 69 | 67 | 0 | .507 |
Dan Fouts | 86 | 84 | 1 | .506 |
Warren Moon | 102 | 101 | 0 | .502 |
Eli Manning | 117 | 117 | 0 | .500 |
Jeff Garcia | 57 | 59 | 0 | .491 |
Tommy Kramer | 54 | 56 | 0 | .491 |
Jay Cutler | 74 | 79 | 0 | .484 |
• Derek Carr | 65 | 81 | 0 | .445 |
• Jameis Winston | 34 | 46 | 0 | .425 |
Daunte Culpepper | 41 | 59 | 0 | .410 |
Ryan Fitzpatrick | 59 | 87 | 1 | .405 |
Robert Griffin | 16 | 26 | 0 | .381 |
Billy Volek | 3 | 7 | 0 | .300 |
Justin Fields | 6 | 24 | 0 | .200 |
Statistics compiled using search tools at Pro-Football-Reference.com
—Ian Allan