Johnny Unitas won two NFL Championships, four MVP awards, five AP first-team All-Pro selections, and 10 Pro Bowl selections with the Baltimore Colts. He ended his career with a multitude of quarterback records that he earned during the 12-14 game seasons of the 1950s and 1960s. He is the best quarterback in the history of the NFL and a pioneer in the passing game.
Johnny Unitas’ legacy was cemented way back in December of 1958, his second full season in the NFL. In what is considered “the greatest game ever played,” Johnny Unitas led the Colts to their first ever Championship at Yankee Stadium against the New York Giants.
Trailing 17-14 with less than two minutes remaining, Unitas engineered the first ever “two minute drill” in history, way before anyone ever called it that. The Colts took over on their own 14 yard line, and following two straight incompletions to begin the drive, Unitas hit Lenny Moore for an 11 yard gain on third down. Unitas then hit Raymond Berry three consecutive times, totally 62 yards to the Giants’ 13 yard line. This set up Colts’ kicker Steve Myhra for a 20-yard game-tying field goal that sent the game into the first ever sudden death overtime in football history.
The Colts won the game 23-17 following a one-yard Alan Ameche touchdown run. Johnny Unitas helped put the NFL on the proverbial map for the rest of the world to see. Johnny U was already cited as the greatest, even way back then on that day.
The Colts won the NFL Championship again the following year in 1959. In an era where teams passed the ball way less than 50% of the time, Johnny Unitas went on to shatter many NFL records that season.
Unitas passed for 2,753 yards, 33 touchdowns, 148 first downs, and had a 92.1 passer rating.
The table below denotes how impressive these numbers were compared to the time period.
The 1959 average is what the average team passed for over the course the entire season. Johnny Unitas threw 33 touchdown passes that season, which was 12 more than the next highest total and was 183% higher than the league average. For comparison’s sake the average NFL team in 2015 threw 26 touchdown passes, seven less than Unitas threw in 1959. Unitas also did it in four less games (NFL teams played 12 regular season games in 1959).
In 2015, the average NFL team passed for 196 first downs, 3901 yards, 26 touchdowns, and had an average quarterback rating if 88.4.
Based on his % compared to average from 1959, Unitas would have thrown for 286 first downs, 5266 yards, 47 touchdowns, and would have had a passer rating of 126 if he quarterbacked an NFL team in 2015.
While these numbers are absolutely staggering, they carry more weight when considering how much less prevalent the passing game was back in 1959. NFL offenses handed off more frequently than they passed. Today, 59% of all offensive plays are passing plays. The average team in 1959 passed for 169 
yards per game compared to 244 yards/game in 2015. The average offense ran for 143 yards per game in 1959 compared to 108 in 2015. The NFL offense was based off the ground game in 1959, yet Johnny U threw more touchdown passes that year than the average team did just this past season.
If the Colts had played 16 games in 1959, based on their averages, Unitas would have thrown for 3,670 yards and 44 touchdowns. This projected passing yardage total would have been higher than 10 NFL teams’ offensive production in 2015. Forty-four touchdown passes is at least eight touchdowns more than any 2015 NFL team. Johnny Unitas and the 1959 Colts’ offense were 50+ years ahead of the rest of the NFL.
Johnny Unitas had the longest consecutive season streak of at least 2,000 passing yards and 16 touchdowns in an NFL season, seemingly from the beginning of time through 1970. Unitas accomplished that feat in 11 consecutive seasons (1957-1967). That streak is four more than any other NFL quarterback that ever played prior to 1970. Len Dawson’s seven year streak lasted from 1962 to 1968.
*As a side note, the number 16 in the above comparison was used for the number of TD passes because it was then the league average when Unitas’ streak started. The average was 21 TDs when Dawson’s streak began in 1962. That only increases the awesomeness of Johnny U’s streak.
During the 1959 season, Unitas threw at least two touchdowns in every game (12 games). Charlie Conerly of the New York Giants had the second longest streak of four games.
In 2015, Tom Brady had the longest streak of consecutive games with at least two touchdown passes. His streak ended at nine games, three short of Unitas’ record. Unitas’ streak is all the more impressive considering the era he was playing in.
From 1959 through 2015, only five times has a quarterback had longer streak than Unitas’ 12 games: Peyton Manning (15), Aaron Rodgers (13), Tom Brady (13), Peyton Manning (13), and Don Meredith (13). Four of those streaks came in the past 10 years. Unitas did it in 1959.
Unitas also had a record of 47 consecutive games with at least one touchdown pass that stretched from 1956 until 1960. That record held until 2009 when Drew Brees broke the record. As of today, Unitas’ streak is the fourth longest in NFL history. Out of the top 30 streaks, only one other initiated earlier than 1960 (Cecil Isabell with the Green Bay Packers in the 1940s). His streak lasted 23 games.
Tom Brady may have more playoff wins, and guys like Dan Marino and Brett Favre may have more career passing yards, but Johnny Unitas set his records in a completely different era. He did it before there was such a thing as a downfield pass or a Hail Mary. Johnny Unitas invented the two-minute drill, and he did it over 30 years prior to any of these guys.
Quarterbacks of the 21st Century are always compared to Johnny Unitas, but Johnny Unitas is never compared to anyone.
That’s because he is the best to ever throw a football.
19 > 18
Sorry Peyton, that will never change.
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