professional athletes are often judged rightly or wrongly by their postseason accomplishments and in the NFL no position has more pressure to win than quarterback a QB can even be considered in the greatest of all time argument without the Rings to back it up and yet so many all-time great signal callers have never lifted a trophy which leads to a different goat conversation who's the greatest player to never win an NFL Championship the answer to that is easy it's the man many consider the greatest pure passer to ever play the three-time first team All Pro the
MVP it's Dan Marino but before Marino became an NFL superstar he was a legendary quarterback for his hometown college team the pit Panthers he amazed everyone with his rocket arm and lightning fast release from the pocket over a 4-year collegiate career he threw for 8,597 yards and 79 touchdowns both were school records at the time with Marino under Center the Panthers had some of their best years in program history going 42-6 from 1979 to 1982 and posting three three straight 11- win Seasons but despite their consistent success pit never won a national championship the closest
they got was number two in the associated press's final ranking in 1980 so Marino learned what it felt like to fall short of a championship before ever even making it to the NFL regardless his play in college spoke for itself and he was clearly a first round Talent heading into the 83 draft a draft that's widely regarded as the best of all time and was absolutely loaded at the quarterback position of course John Elway was the headliner and a lock to be the number one pick but many had Marino graded close to Elway and everyone
expected him to be taken early instead he dropped almost all the way out of the first round and was the sixth quarterback taken the dolphin select quarterback Dan Marino of Pittsburgh so how is that even possible well Marino's worst college season was his senior year and during his time at pit he built a reputation as a parier with rumors going around that he even indulged in hardcore drugs from time to time the rumor was never confirmed and Marino later said that there was nothing to it but in NFL circles many believed it and thought that
could be the explanation for his senior struggles in fact Marino was even drug tested by the university as the rumor spread his test came back clean but that information wasn't made public until 1984 Marino's second year in the NFL so yes a rumor was largely the reason so many teams passed on Marino including his hometown Steelers who picked 21st but one team that wasn't scared off was the Miami Dolphins who jumped at the chance to take Marino with the 27th overall pick the next to last selection in the first round and it makes perfect sense
right let's send the alleged party animal with drug issues to Miami what could go wrong luckily nothing did NOP and the selection of Marino became one of the greatest value picks in NFL history especially because Marino was now coming in with a chip on his shoulder and he was being coached by the legendary Don schula who knew what it took to be a great quarterback he played with Johnny unitis and autog Graham and later coached unitis with the the Colts so he instantly knew what he had in Marino he saw in him a quality that
other quarterbacks just didn't possess the thing that Dan could do was fit that ball into tight places and Marino was able to do that because he was Fearless throwing the football he brought a new meaning to the term Gunslinger there were times in the field when I felt like I couldn't miss in week three of Marino's rookie season schula threw him in in a Monday night game against the Raiders in place of starter David Woodley the Dolphins were trailing 27-0 with 5 minutes to play and Marino threw two touchdown passes to make the score look
respectable in week five he made another relief appearance after Woodley failed to put up any points Marino came in and threw a touchdown for the Dolphins only score in a loss to the Saints then just a few days later schula named Marino the starter I decided to give him the opportunity to start the ball game today right from the top to see how he does and instantly he became a star in his first start he threw for 322 yards and three touchdowns in an OT loss to the bills with Marino in charge the Dolphins were
a completely different team they averaged 27 points a game in his nine starts which was 11 points better than their average before Marino became the starter Miami won nine of its last 10 games and captured the AFC East with a 12-4 record earning a first round Buy in the playoffs in their first game in the divisional round they hosted the Seahawks who had a 9- s record in the regular season and made the playoffs as a wild card the game would become Marino's introduction to postseason struggles he threw two interceptions Marino who is 10 for
13 firing and it's picked off yes The Intercept to go with two TDS as Miami blew a fourth quarter lead and lost 2720 but the season was still an individual success for Marino he finished third in MVP voting and made the Pro Bowl as a rookie so there was a lot to look forward to in South Beach heading into the 84 season with the playoff loss fueling them Marino and the Dolphins were ready to go nuclear on the rest of the league the destruction started in week one playing on the road against a good Washington
team Marino threw for 311 yards and five touchdowns for a 3517 route all season long he was simply Untouchable he threw at least a touchdown pass in all 16 regular season games and when the season was over he had shattered the NFL record for both passing yards and passing touchdowns in the season Marino was the overwhelming choice for NFL MVP and the voters picked him over Eric Dickerson who set The League record for rushing yards in a season that's just how unreal Marino was that season with Marino destroying defenses Miami started out 11-0 and finished
with a 14-2 record and Marino stayed hot in the playoffs in the AFC Championship game he torched the Steelers for 421 yards and four touchdowns in a 4528 win as Miami cruised to the Super Bowl but their opponent was the 49ers led by Joe Montana and Marino started hot in the game completing nine of his first 10 passes the Dolphins scored the first two times they had the ball and LED late in the first quarter 10 to7 but then it fell apart the ners defense made adjustments and San Francisco's offense took control of the game
by scoring 21 straight points in the second half Marino desperately tried to lead a comeback but he ended up throwing two interceptions to seal the dolphin Spate Miami was shut out in the final 30 minutes and lost 38-16 after a game like that a lot of teams would have suffered a Super Bowl hangover but not the dolphins not with Marino behind Center and after winning MVP and appearing in a Super Bowl in just his second season it was widely expected that Marino would win not one but multiple Super Bowls over his career in 1985 Miami
won their division again with a 12-4 record for a second year in a row Marino led the NFL in passing yards and passing touchdowns and in week 13 he produced an epic performance in an instant Classic on a Monday night in Miami he faced the 12-0 Chicago Bears and their fearsome 46 defense but Marino was always one step ahead of the Bears pass rush all night he completed needed only 14 passes in the game but went for 270 yds and three touchdowns into the arms of Clayton Miami spanked Chicago 38-24 it was the Bear's only
loss of the season a month later Marino was back in the playoffs he was now three for three in getting to the postseason then in the divisional round the Dolphins hosted the Browns after Miami fell behind 213 another playoff failure felt imminent until Marino pulled off a postseason miracle in the third quarter he started the comeback with a Ted pass to Nat Moore and in the fourth quarter he finished the job by Leading a long scoring drive on the first play after the two-minute warning Miami took a 24-21 lead on a Ron Davenport touchdown run
and held on for the win and so they were headed back to the conference Championship game with a team of Destiny field hosting the New England Patriots Miami was favored to beat New England and return to the Super Bowl a win would also mean a rematch for the bears but once again the Dolphins fell into a big hole in the third quarter they trailed 24/7 Marino would need to perform another miracle but this time he couldn't do it late in the fourth quarter with his team down 3114 he heaved a desperation pass into the end
zone that was intercepted again intercepted by Clayburn that was Miami's sixth turnover of the game and the Dolphins were done this loss sent them into a downward spiral in 1986 Marino had another tremendous season for the third consecutive year he led the league in passing yards and touchdowns and Miami led the league in scoring but the Dolphins week three game against the Jets showed them what the next Four Seasons would be like because Marino was on fire that day he completed 30 of 50 passes for 448 yards and a career-high six touchdowns but Miami's defense
just could not stop the Jets on the final play of Regulation New York scored a touchdown to force overtime a few minutes later the Jets won 5145 on a long pass from Ken O'Brien to Wesley Walker hect there O'Brien going for it all to Walker an identity was being created a historic offense led by Marino and a horrible defense that held the Dolphins back from 1986 through 1989 Miami missed the playoffs then in 1990 the defense finally got fixed and Marino no longer needed to carry the load Miami was back to being a playoff team
almost every year but that ultimately just led to more bitter endings for Marino and the fins but we'll get to those losses in a minute first we have to jump to the 1993 season where in week six Marino is facing the Browns in Cleveland in the second quarter he dropped back to pass as he tried to step up in the pocket his right foot got stuck in the turf he threw the pass and it turned out to be his last play of the Season Marino suffered a torn Achilles and the Dolphins hope of a Super
Bowl run were yet again crushed in the summer of 1994 Marino was 32 and working his way back from a serious injury prior to going down he had played in 145 consecutive non-strike games but now there were questions about how he would hold up when he returned to the field well he gave us his answer in Miami's season opener against the Patriots Marino and New England's Drew bledo put on an insane aerial duel the two men combined for 894 yards and nine touchdowns passing Marino threw five TDS himself and the fifth was an absolute did
he just do that moment with just over 3 minutes to play Miami was trailing by four points and facing a fourth down at the New England 35 Marino could have settled for a first down but he saw Irving frier get wide open down the sideline and hit him in stride for a go-ahead touchdown Miami held on for a 3935 win I actually wasn't sure how I was going to play once I got out there and started playing it was like I wasn't even hurt in week 13 Marino conjured more late game magic but this time
he showed off slight of hand against the Jets in a game with huge playoff implications Miami trailed 24-6 in the third quarter Marino threw two touchdown passes to Mark Ingram to get it to 2420 then with 2 and 1/2 minutes remaining the Dolphins got the ball back at their 16 yd line Marino drove his team into the Red Zone with 34 seconds remaining he motioned like he was going to spike the ball and stop the clock he took the snap and dropped back to pass hitting Ingram In The End Zone on a back shoulder pass
against an unsuspecting Aaron Glenn Miami went on to win 2824 that fake spike crushed the Jets souls and sent the Dolphins on their way to the playoffs where of course they would fall short Again by now coming up short was a theme from 1990 to 1999 Miami reached the postseason seven times seven more chances for Marino to win a title each time the Dolphins came up short in fact they never even got to a Super Bowl they lost twice in the Wild Card round four times in the divisional round and once in the AFC title
game the final loss in the 1999 AFC divisional round was the ultimate embarrassment Miami traveled up to Jacksonville to face the Jaguars and the 38-year-old Marino tried to summon whatever Powers he had left he had nothing on his first pass of the game he threw an inter reception later in the first quarter he was sacked and then fumbled the Jags returned it for a touchdown to go up 24 nothing the score later ballooned to 41 to nothing just before halftime Marino threw a consolation TD pass caught touchdown and in the third quarter he was taken
out of the game Miami lost 62-7 it was the largest defeat in franchise history and the second most lopsided playoff score ever this game was also the last one of Marino's NFL career a cruel end for an all-time great play whose playoff wos would forever haunt him telling you not what that wait a minute I got to a Super Bowl in March of 2000 he announced his retirement a ring would now be Out Of Reach forever the Super Bowl loss in his second season was the only time Marino ever made it to the big game
I thought for sure I'd be back to the Super Bowl and I would win a Super Bowl you just got to accept what it is and it really sucks that the lack of a Super Bowl title overshadows what he did in his career because damn he was good at the time of his retirement he held the NFL record for touchdown passes passing yards completions touchdown passes in a season and passing yards in a season he also LED 33 fourth quarter comebacks second only to Johnny unitis as 34 he posted 147 wins as a starter and
was selected to nine Pro bowls and three All Pro first teams then in 2005 Marino added Pro Football Hall of Famer to his list of accomplishments so he really doesn't need a ring to have his career validated Marino was the greatest passer the NFL had ever seen at the time and he paved way for so many Gunslingers that came after him if you enjoyed this video stick with blitz subscribe and check out some of our other content
