If Marino Played for the 49er, How Many SB Titles ? An Analysis | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

If Marino Played for the 49er, How Many SB Titles ? An Analysis

Perfect72

Perfect72

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You always here the "if only Marino had x, y, z" arguments. So let's go there. If Dan Marinohad played under Bill Walsh, would he, not Montana, be considered the best QB ever?
This is a fun question.

Marino started in 1983; Montana had already won one ring (1981) by then. So let's only look at seasons they had in common (1984-1990); Montana won it all in 1984, 1988 and 1989 during this span.

1984
He absolutely wins in 1984. That year, Marino's Dolphins lost to Montana's Niners in the Super Bowl.

Marino annihilated the NFL record book in 1984, throwing for 48 TDs (the record had been 36; manning's 49 and Brady's 50 subsequently broke this record) and 5,084 yards (a record that still stands).
Stats: http://www.pro-football-referenc...

1985
Montana (27 TDs, 13 INT) was better than Marino (30/17) this year.. and SF lost to the NYG (17-3) in the playoffs; the Giants subsequently lost to the 1985 Bears.

Hard to believe Marino gets the Niners past the '85 Bears.. except for the fact he destroyed the Bears on MNF with 5 TDP in a 38-24 Miami win that year, the only Chicago loss than season.

Still -- can't see it.

1986
Interesting -- possibly. Marino threw for 4700+ yards and 44 TDs this season; Montana was hurt most of the year, and threw for just 8 TDs on a 10-5-1 Niners team.

Marino in 1986: http://www.pro-football-referenc...
Montana: http://www.pro-football-referenc...

The Niners scored 374 points agauinst 247 allowed; this team was a gathering storm that went on to an amazing 1987.

Marino, in 1986, played much better than Montana.. but I can't see him getting this team past the 1986 Giants, who went 14-2 and destroyed SF 49-3 in the playoffs.

1987
Niners went 13-2; Montana was brilliant with a 31-13 TDP-INT ratio; Steve Young was even better, going 10-0 TDP-INT as his backup.

A great team.. that fell apart in the playoffs in a stunning 36-24 home loss to the Wild Card Vikings.

This team *should* have won the 1987 Super Bowl. This was one of the rare times Montana struggled in a big spot in the playoffs.

But while it's tempting to say Marino might have won that palyoff game, in 1987, he was outplayed by Montana - http://www.pro-football-referenc....

1988
Neither Marino nor Montana had a spectacular year. But Montana's leadership was crucial in getting a 6-5 Niners team to four straight wins (clinching a playoff berth), then a week 16 loss (resting players) vs. the Rams, then running the table in the playoffs.

Could Marino have rallied the Niners that way? Maybe. But it's no lock.

The Niners probably get through the NFC playoffs -- although a cold NFC title game at Chicago would have been rough -- and lose to the 1988 Bengals (a very good team) in the Super Bowl with Marino.

Keep in mind only an epic 92 yard drive by Montana won that Super Bowl game; Jerry Rice 11-215 also went bananas.

Best guess: no ring.

Montana: http://www.pro-football-referenc...
Marino: http://www.pro-football-referenc...


1989
With all due respect to Montana, who was phenomenal in 1989, (14-2 record; 26 TDP-8 INT), I think Marino would also have won it all with this awesome team.

The 1989 Niners ranked #3 in defense and #1 in offense:
http://www.pro-football-referenc...

The Niners outscored three playoff opponents by 126-26 (+100) during their playoff rampage.

But Marino would have had to play better than he did for the 1989 Fish (24 TDP/22 INT).

More at LINK: https://www.quora.com/If-Dan-Marino...Joe-Montana-how-many-titles-would-he-have-won

"Joe Montana was the product of the system, Dan Marino was the system." ~ Bill Walsh

[video=youtube;1O1BpDLTJns]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O1BpDLTJns[/video]
Your thoughts....:ponder:
 
Poor criteria assuming Marino couldn't neccesarily do it in years Montana and or Young failed.

I will look at this closer and return my opinion.

In the past...I've always felt he'd have at least 5 with those extremely talented teams.
 
Left out 1990, SF was on it way to 3-peat at 15-2 before losing to Giants in NFC Title game. Dan would have checked out of that ill-fated run by Roger Craig where he fumbled the game away needing a single 1st down to seal the NFC Championship. Even if Dan doesn't complete the pass the 49ers punt and Hostetler doesn't have enough time to complete upset.

That 1990 team was the closest team to ever 3-peat in Super Bowl history. Dan would have sealed that game. But who knows if he could have beaten the bills in the Super Bowl. They always seemed to have his number when the games counted most.

Great discussion. Something different from the norm.....
 
a lot...would have won some had he been in Denver with Terrell davis instead of elway too

I blame shula for marino being ringless
 
I don't think he would have won any more than Joe Montana in SF. Montana was as clutch as they come. I do think Marino would have won more SB's in Denver than Elway and if you put him on the Bills team of 90-93, they would have won 4 rings.
 
I love Shula but the drafting during Marino's heydey was worse than dismal. Danny would will teams to 8 wins that probably should have won 3 games.

Here are some 1st and 2nd round picks during Marino's heydey

1. Traded 2 two 1's for Hugh Green (hurt and a bust)
2. Lorenzo Hampton
3. Sammie Smith
4. Jay Brophy
5. Scott Schwedes
6. Jackie Shipp (traded up in 1984)
7. Overstreet was a number one pick who died tragically
8. Rick Graf
9. Eric Kumerow
10. John Bosa (injuries)
11. Billy Milner
12. Andrew Greene
13. Eddie Blake

These are 1st and second round picks. It was absolutely ridiculous. You don't have to hit on all of them, but they were whiffing badly. This, more than anything, really hurt Marino.

There were other bad moves like trading Anthony Carter (initially in the USFL) for not enough. Some mediocre third rounders on the DL: TJ Turner, Larry Webster
 
Lets not get too carried away with the legend. The legend is always better than the actual player. From 1986-89 Marino and the Dolphins had 8, 7, 6 & 8 wins consecutively. He was terrible in 1989 with 24 td's to 22 picks. He didn't get a lot of help but he wasn't that guy making people around him better either.
 
What is funny about the 85 Bears is that Shula and Marino gave the 49's the perfect scheme to beat the Bears. Miami gave them a lil' spankin' that day.
 
I've actually been more curious that if Marino played in today's era on the Pats instead of Brady, how many titles does he have?
 
Eesti said:
Lets not get too carried away with the legend. The legend is always better than the actual player. From 1986-89 Marino and the Dolphins had 8, 7, 6 & 8 wins consecutively. He was terrible in 1989 with 24 td's to 22 picks. He didn't get a lot of help but he wasn't that guy making people around him better either.
Click to expand...

Sorry but Marino was as good as the legend. The idea that QBs make other players better is nonsense. The greatness of Marino can be measured by how much better than his contemporaries. He was in a different league than everyone else. 48 TDs when the record was 36. 5000 yards when 3000 yards was a good season.
 
He would have won at least 3 on SF and as Hoops pointed out he would have won some w Denver and w the Bills. Miami just had no supporting cast due to awful drafting as another poster demonstrated. Marino played w just 1 HOFer - Dwight Stephenson - and that was only for 2-3 years before Dwight got hurt. Not another guy on the roster in Canton or going except Jason Taylor - and by then it was really too late. From '83-'94 was the window.
 
royalshank said:
He would have won at least 3 on SF and as Hoops pointed out he would have won some w Denver and w the Bills. Miami just had no supporting cast due to awful drafting as another poster demonstrated. Marino played w just 1 HOFer - Dwight Stephenson - and that was only for 2-3 years before Dwight got hurt. Not another guy on the roster in Canton or going except Jason Taylor - and by then it was really too late. From '83-'94 was the window.
Click to expand...

Years ago I created a list of all the RBs that Marino ever played with. I asked posters on this message board to identify one that had any real success either before or after being a Dolphin. There were none. The point of the post was to shoot down the notion that the lack of a running game was somehow Marino's fault.
 
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