(10-12-2017 08:04 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-11-2017 11:39 AM)Native Georgian Wrote:  One of the all-time greats, and a class act off-the-field, too. He went to LSU, his brother to Tulane.

Strange that he never won a championship. Like Fran Tarkenton he came close several times, but never quite got the brass ring.

In both cases, I'd say it was the competition faced. Tarkenton lost title games to the 1973 Dolphins (enough said), 1974 Steelers (enough said), and the 1976 Raiders. The Raiders went 16-1 that year and 7 of their players who started that super bowl are in the Hall of Fame (enough said).

Likewise, Tittle lost to the 1961 Packers, the 1962 Packers, and the 1963 Bears. The first two are among the two best NFL teams prior to the Super Bowl era (the 1962 Packers are one of two teams of the last 60 years to be #1 in team offense and #1 in team defense. The 1961 Packers were #1 in offense, #2 in defense). The 1963 Bears had arguably the best defense of all time to that point. They set a record for fewest points given up, and led the NFL in fewest rushing yards, passing yards, and total yards, something only two other teams have ever done. The game was played in Chicago, and the Giants lost 14-10. What are you going to do?

It's a lot easier to get a ring when you play a team like last year's Falcons, who finished #25 in team defense, and lost 5 games. By comparison, the three teams the Giants lost to in the title games lost a total of 5 games among them across their three seasons.