It's hard to think of a more recycled mantra than the proclamation that you can't win Super Bowls without super quarterbacks.
In a time of technology, of reducing games and players down to algorithms, it feels facile, if not fatuous, to just hand the on-field de facto crown to the QB. But some clichés are true, even if you don't like them. Vince Lombardi himself lamented the exorbitant power the passer had over a football game. And not even a coach of his timbre could do anything about it.
So while running games and defenses and turnovers are still as vital as ever, the NFL's Final Four this weekend will pivot on four primo quarterbacks, who could arguably be the four best in football this year. They were stereotypically brilliant, if such a term is suitable. This QB quartet is a well-compensated, much celebrated, and highly decorated foursome that, split down the middle, features the game's all-time greatest signal-callers and a very strong duo ready to replace them when it's time.
The NFC title game will feature the GOAT and a demigod in Tom Brady versus Aaron Rodgers - a game, quite fittingly played, in the Cathedral of pro football, Lambeau Field – home to the Patron Saint of pro football (Lombardi) – on the most revered plot of land this side of Notre Dame.
Indeed, Brady and Rodgers are a living salute to the game's greatness and to their sprawling legacy, which still grows at ages that generally double as a lid on athletic careers. Brady fled the safety and security of his grand master coach, Bill Belichick, and the holy football land - from Foxboro to Boston and beyond - on which the natives worship him every day of the week. And he did it for the gaggle of variables in Tampa, for another team named for their region, albeit one with a dubious history of being one of the few teams to produce a winless season with Steve Spurrier at the helm during their maiden season (1976). And he’s with a coach, Bruce Arians, who keeps an ardently well-lubed life of short days and mixed drinks. And yet Brady, as he always does, finds the best in his boys and maintains his own hunger despite sporting a ring set that would make Liberace blush.
Aaron Rodgers, to some of us, is even better than Brady, but just not as accomplished. It's often sacrosanct to marvel at Rodgers as truly the greatest player, while Brady's the most accomplished. But if you just watch No. 12 enjoying perhaps the best season of his career, you see athletic splendor, and athletic artistry at its highest form. Rodgers is completing 70 percent of his passes, has tossed 48 touchdowns against just five picks, and led the league in fewest percentage of throws intercepted (1 percent), passer rating (121.5), and QBR (84.5). At 37, he's having the best season of his career, even better than his otherworldly 2011 season, when he led the league in myriad stats and won NFL MVP.
Whomever wins between Brady and Rodgers will spend at least one more year where they belong: 60 minutes from a Lombardi Trophy. Though their final foe to get there will be formidable, indeed, particularly under center.
The Chiefs and Bills are led by two truly great quarterbacks, and fit the contemporary, stone-hewn, athletic template, even if they are underclassmen compared to the football Ph.Ds starting in the NFC. In Kansas City's case, Patrick Mahomes seemed sent from some mother ship with a single purpose - to tear-apart NFL defenses with indefensible passes. For those worried that Mahomes won't play this weekend because of that hard blow he took against the Browns, hurling him into the concussion protocol, you can bet your last bitcoin he will be ready on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Josh Allen, a first round pick the year after Mahomes, has exploded on the entire league after his bona fides were questioned his first two seasons. Now, Allen is being admired and game planned for the football machine he is – but for all his size, skill, and will, Allen is also the only member of this fearsome foursome that does not have a Super Bowl ring. In fact, many thought he and his Bills would bow to Baltimore last weekend, and another 2.0 QB wonder, Lamar Jackson. No dice there, but Allen is now in that pristine QB orbit, in the thin air of true greatness, and all he needs now is to win two more games to officially dance with the NFL Stars.
And if this pair of playoff games tells us locals anything, it's that the Jets and Giants need to conquer their QB issues, and soon. Do the Jets stick with Darnold? Or do they deal him and grab a QB with the No. 2 pick? Are the Giants sure about Daniel Jones? It seems they like the young Duke alum. But until they show results, they will keep falling to the teams with better quarterbacks, and Big Blue and Gang Green surely know this.
Another New Yorker, one from Sheepshead Bay named Lombardi, knew the value of the golden arm 50 years ago. The league has made him proud on the silver anniversary of the merger.
Follow Jason Keidel on Twitter: @JasonKeidel
Follow WFAN on Social Media
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch