{image1} Some myths die hard, but none of them harder than the following. "You need a franchise quarterback to win in the NFL."

How many times does observable empirical, and obvious evidence have to be ignored for this myth to live on?

The NFL is a complex league, that employs 53 man rosters (not including practice squad, and injured reserve) and has a salary cap of roughly $75 million per team. Quarterbacks, account for no more than 3 of those spots, and (at most) $9 or $10 million in cap space per year.

Yet the armchair fan still believes in the almighty power of the man barking out the signals.

You know how "crucial" having a good QB really is? Take this weekend, for example. The pathetic "Raiders of the Lost Nursing Home" took third-stringer Rick Mirer (so buried on the depth chart, it was better than witness protection) and walked the 10-1 Chiefs down to the final :04 on the road before losing.

In Baltimore, ex-Cowboy washout Anthony Wright pulls off a miracle comeback for the normally low-wattage Ravens in just his 2nd start of the year, while throwing for 319 yards and four touchdowns.

In Miami, Redskins "franchise" QB Patrick Ramsey gets cold-cocked to the bench in the first quarter. In comes Tim Hasselbeck (claim to fame: He married Elisabeth from Survivor... hey, how 'bout that?) and leads the Redskins to a 13 point 4th quarter lead before the Skins defense goes legs up and loses.

Now remember, some people will claim the QB position in this league is so critical, so hard to fill, so excruciatingly important, they won't want to know that Hasselbeck was a mid-season "off the street" free agent pick up, and had just five weeks to digest Spurrier's supposedly complicated offensive system.

A perfect irony, is how the Dolphins Brian Griese (now a backup, but once a starter) crapped the bed with a two interception performance before getting benched for Jay Fiedler. Griese, you may recall, led the NFL in 2000 with a 102.9 rating, and was paid a then-franchise record $12.9 million signing bonus. Two years later, he was cut. Oh well.

Tony Banks, last seen limping the Redskins to an 8-8 record in 2001, was set to be 2-0 as an emergency starter for #1 overall pick David Carr in Houston. But then the Texans defense collapsed and could not tuck away a late 7 point lead.

The Titans fall behind 21-0, then lose should-be league MVP Steve McNair. Game over, right? Hardly, as Billy Volek (currently on .000001% of all Fantasy Football rosters nationwide) leads the Titans from behind for a 38-31 win with 24 second half points.

Billy F-ing Volek.

Hmmm, maybe the QB in the NFL is starting to look a lot more like the tail, and not the dog, eh?

Look at all the so-called, once-great QBs now either stinking it up, or riding the pine. Kurt Warner (two time NFL MVP), Kordell Stewart (1997 Pro Bowler with 21 passing touchdowns and 11 more rushing), Drew Bledsoe (former #1 overall), Trent Dilfer (with Super Bowl ring on his finger).

Journeyman scrub Gus Frerotte comes in for Dante Culpepper (10 year, $103 million) and goes 3-0 before putting his ballcap back on and grabbing a clipboard.

Not only is the quarterback position oversold in importance, but look at the often catastrophic damage done when a team buys into the myth. Detroit has plenty of problems that need addressing, and too bad for them, the guy they drafted #3 overall two years ago is one of them. Joey Harrington threw four INT's against a Vikings defense that was thirsting for ... well ... thirsting for a guy like you to show up and make them better in a hurry.

The Carolina Panthers didn't fall for it that year. They drafted DE Julius Peppers one spot ahead of Harrington, and all he's doing is trashing opposing backfields. Not that the Panthers already had their "franchise" QB at the time. They didn't. But they wisely calculated that they could cobble together the Rodney Peete's, Chris Weinke's, and Jake Delhomme's of the world and still be a good team.

If you really want a good cry, ask Browns fans how Tim Couch is working out for them. Selected #1 overall in 1999 on the "franchise quarterback" myth, Couch has only had one season where he threw more TD's than INT's. He's lost his job to a former nobody in Kelly Holcomb, a guy who wasn't drafted at all! That same year, the Bengals followed the Browns into the "franchise QB myth" abyss, and picked Akili Smith.

And now for the tears. Selected after these two QB "saviors" were (in order): Edgerrin James (two-time AFC rushing leader), Ricky Williams (last year's NFL rushing leader), Torry Holt (arguably the best WR in the NFL today) and Champ Bailey (a 3 time Pro Bowl cornerback, headed for his fourth in 2003).

This year, you have to shake your head and wonder how good the Bengals might be if they had resisted the urge to worship false QB saviors for yet another year. The 'Gals selected Carson Palmer with the first pick out of USC. Why? Well, Palmer had a nice senior season, won the Heisman, and um... well... um, we had to pick somebody.

Now that Jon Kitna is lighting it up to Chad Johnson, Palmer is as buried as David Blaine in a prime time TV magic stunt. Terence Newman, Terrell Suggs, or any number of other promising rookies could be paying dividends for Cincinnati right now, not in a few years.

Worse yet, is seeing Palmer's backup Matt Leinart put up even better numbers for USC this year. Oops. Maybe the dog-tail relationship of team and QB extends to college as well.

Even when you have a guy who is considered the "franchise" look what can happen when the "franchise" goes down. The Jets lost Chad Pennington to injury and limped out to an 0-4 start. Atlanta lost their "franchise" Michael Vick, and they flat out stopped playing on both sides of the ball.

Remember when Rush Limbaugh got fired for saying that Donovan McNabb was overrated because he was a black quarterback in an affirmative-action oriented arena of media driven public opinion?

He was wrong about the color part, but right about everything else. This year, McNabb has been much better as of late, but he remains the 21st ranked passer in the NFL. In other words, he's just one guy on a team of 53 who are all doing their jobs pretty well right now, and have thus won six in a row.

There is a romance in believing that a good quarterback, with a square jaw, rocket arm, and the nerve of a safe cracker is the answer to all of your team's woes. It is a romance built upon the league's legends like Unitas, Starr, and Montana.

But for every Peyton Manning who is drafted high these days, there is the inevitable Ryan Leaf. A sort of Pro Bowl "yin" to the washout "yang" of NFL draft picks. For every Drew Bledsoe there's a Rick Mirer. Every McNabb, an Akili Smith. Every Vinny Testaverde a Kelly Stouffer. Every Steve McNair, a Heath Shuler. For every Troy Aikman, a Jeff George.

And if you think that the myth of the "franchise QB" is officially dead after reading this far, just wait until you see my email next week. And wait until another hot college arm gets tabbed to be the savior of some down and out NFL city.