Another football season has come to a close now that the Super Bowl is upon us. In spite of all of the hype history of course will be made one way or the other. The New Orleans Saints run the chance of winning the first Super Bowl ever as a franchise. The Indianapolis Colts on the other hand may win it with a rookie coach in Jim Caldwell.

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No doubt Peyton Manning and Drew Brees will do what they have done all season. Throw it long, throw it often, which leads to ... A couple of weeks ago I just started playing around with the question of the five greatest quarterbacks that ever played the game.

I presented this to several friends and some local high school coaches. I must say some of the answers were surprising.

Of course, now everyone knows  there is not a right or wrong answer here, but it is fun to see the picks of others. In no particular order here are my five picks: Green Bay Packers Bart Starr, New Orleans Archie Manning, the San Fransico 49er’s Joe Montana and the Miami Dolphins Bob Griese. I have a three way tie for fifth  with P. Manning, Tom Brady and Brett Favre. 

There are many more that could fit into that list very easily like Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw and Steve Young. Now mind you growing up in the 70s I had a chance to see Johnny Unitas who played for the then Baltimore Colts and Sonny Jurgenson for the Washington Redskins. One could also throw Joe Theisman (also of the Redskins) in the mix and possibly argue for Jim Kelly of the Buffalo Bills.

Now, if you go solely on single game performances without a doubt it would be ‘Broadway’ Joe Namath. Who will ever forget his MVP performance in Super Bowl III? The only other Super Bowl MVP performance that may come close is that of Kurt Warner’s in Super Bowl XXXIV when he was with the Rams.

Warner however, could make the top five list as well, even though he has only been in the league for 12 seasons, but what he has accomplished in that period of time is absolutely amazing.

Another candidate for single game nods would be that of Dan Marino who threw for more than  500 yards against the New York Jets where a combined 96 points were scored and Marino and crew still lost.There is no doubt about the ones who have carved a place in history on the gridiron, those who are now carving their place in history and those who are just starting like New York Jets rookie Mark Sanchez, who surprised many of his nay sayers by leading the Jets to the playoffs. Of course being under the direction of former University of Southern California Coach Pete Caroll didn’t hurt matters any.

Keep in mind that somewhere down the line another sportswriter may pose the same question and the answers may surely change with the likes of Colt McCoy and Tim Tebow possibly joining the ranks of the NFL.

If any readers would like to comment or submit their list of the five greatest NFL quarterbacks of all time email The Daily Herald Sports Writer Anthony Gainey at anthonyg@rrdailyherald.com