It’s always hard to look back on football history and compare the older era to the newer. It’s why people will argue until the end of time that Michael Jordan was or was not the best NBA player in history (he was). It is also harder to just look at one position that has evolved quite a bit from a running game to a pure passing game. I decided to come up with the all time QB rankings for Bengal starters since 1968. Here is what I came up with:
- Ken Anderson (1972-1984)
- Boomer Esiason (1985-1992)
- Carson Palmer (2004-2010)
- Andy Dalton (2011-2019)
- John Kitna (2001-2003)
- Greg Cook (1969)
- Jeff Blake (1994-1997, 1999)
- Ryan Fitzmagic (2008)
- Virgil Carter (1970-1971)
- Neil O’Donnell (1998)
- John Stofa (1968)
- Akili Smith (2000)
- David Klingler (1993)
It is no surprise that Ken Anderson is the greatest Bengals QB of all time and should be in the Hall of Fame. My memories of being a fan did not start until the Boomer era and having led the Bengals to a Super Bowl definitely earns him that second spot. Even though Carson Palmer is a traitor who turned his back on the team he certainly was a top tiered QB while in Cincinnati however he was plagued with never winning big games and most importantly playoff games.
Dalton comes in right behind Palmer because even though he had better long-term stats I think we can agree that every season with a healthy Palmer gave us a chance. Dalton was a roller coaster sometimes and was never argued to be in the elite category. Kitna must follow Dalton up due to the stability that he brought and mentorship. He could have won that 2005 playoff game though, he wasn’t the reason we lost (cough cough defense).
Greg Cook was the old school era and while I never saw him play I have heard the old codgers rave about how good he could have been if it wasn’t for his career ending injury. We will never know but I trust the old guys at the bar who have seen all of the Bengal QBs play. Jeff Blake brought excitement to the Queen City and “Shake ‘n Blake” was fun for all of the fans.
After Blake it is a myriad of journeymen, draft whiffs and players that disappeared due to shiny new quarterbacks coming onto the team. My biggest takeaway from this was PUT KEN ANDERSON INTO THE HALL OF FAME.