A comment by McGeorge sparked some thought into what is required at quarterback to win a Super Bowl. Our current starter so far this season will be Kyle Orton, a player who was average in just about every area last season. As I look back on the past Super Bowl winners and contenders, I will compare the starting quarterbacks as well as the team surrounding them. This isn't a multi-decade look at this topic, nor is it to in-depth on the skills of each team, but it will look at the stats from each quarterback, as well as how each team played as a whole on offense and defense. So shall we?

The 2009 Denver Broncos:

Offense:

- 326 points, 20.6 per game (20th in the NFL)

- 5463 yards, 341 per game (15th in the NFL)

- 3627 yards passing, 226.7 per game (13th in the NFL)

- 1836 yards rushing, 114.8 per game (17th in the NFL)

- 16th rank average

Overall, our offense fell into the middle third of the NFL, making it almost completely average.

Defense:

- 324 points allowed, 20.3 per game (14th in the NFL)

- 5040 yards allowed, 315 per game (7th in the NFL)

- 2981 yards passing allowed, 186.3 per game (3rd in the NFL)

- 2059 yards rushing allowed, 128.7 per game (26th in the NFL)

- 13th rank average

Our defense was fantastic in yards allowed overall, especially against the pass, but in points allowed, we were average, and in rushing yards allowed, we were absolutely terrible, ranking 26th in the NFL. Overall our defense was ranked at ever-so-slightly above average.

Kyle Orton:

- 336 of 541 passes completed, 62.1% (14th in the NFL)

- Quarterback rating of 86.8 (14th in the NFL)

- 3802 yards (11th in NFL)

- 21 touchdowns (17th in the NFL)

- 12 Interceptions (8th in NFL of quarterbacks starting 12+ games)

- 11th rank average

Overall, Orton actually played slightly above average. He also possesses the intangibles that make players respect and like him, hard worker, quiet leader, strong ethic, and takes responsibility.

The Chart on Super Bowl Teams:

Okay, this is your standard table, covering both the offense and the defensive statistics of each team that went to the Super Bowl over the past 10 years, and our 2009 Broncos tossed in for comparison. It has yards per game (Yards/G), points per game (Pts/G), rushing yards per game (RY/G)  and passing yards per game (PY/G). On the defense side, that same notations are used, but they refer to yards and points allowed. It also includes their ranking in the NFL that season. Now the rankings shouldn't take too much notice, as the league numbers regularly fluctuates. I know it may be tough to look at, but please take your time, there is a lot to get out of it.

The Chart on Super Bowl Quarterbacks:

Now here is the list of the quarterbacks who lead their team to the Super Bowl, plus Orton as well. Like I said earlier, don't trust the rankings, cause in 2000 and 2001, Orton would have the numbers to be top 5 and in 2007, he would struggle make the top 20.

Review:

As I went back and reviewed each Super Bowl team over the past decade, I found we weren't actually that far away. We had either the same or better offenses then a number of teams, the 2002 Bucs, the 2003 Panthers and Patriots, the 2005 and 2008 Steelers  and the 2007 Giants. Our defense as a whole was on par with or better then all the pass heavy teams like the Colts, Cardinals and Saints, the 2007 Patriots, 2005 Seahawks, 2003 Panthers, and the 2001 Patriots. In reality the biggest flaw I saw was how many yards we gave up to the run and our struggle to run the ball. Had that even been closer to 15th in the NFL, we'd actually look similar to a number of teams on this list. The closest teams I could compare us to, at least statistically,were the 2003 Panthers and the 2007 Giants. Both had better running games and better run defenses but we had a better passing defense. Had we improved both our lines, we would have been a much better team. Here's hoping our improvements made their can compensate for losses elsewhere.

As for quarterbacks, Orton last season actually outplayed a number of Super Bowl quarterbacks. The list includes, both of Roethlisber's trips, Eli Manning, Grossman, Brady in 2003 and 2001, Delhomme, Johnson, Dilfer and Collins. Now this was in general, while some may have been more accurate, or thrown more touchdowns, looking at the body of work that season, Orton outplayed them. So while those teams were all either run and defense based, Dilfer, Roethlisberger, Johnson, or the quarterback was surrounded by talent, Brady, Delhomme, and Collins, Orton actually played well enough to compete with a number of those players. Orton in 2005 rode the Bears to the Playoffs, and he really was just along for the ride, but the Orton today would have made that team much better. I'll let you draw your own conclusion on the data, but here's mine: Orton is good enough to take a team to the Super Bowl, not by himself, Orton is no Manning, Brady or Brees, but with a good team, he's either better then or about the same as half the guys on this list.