Kurt Warner caps story with Canton bust
In 50 years from now, fans of the National Football League will look at Kurt Warner’s stats and wonder how the guy ever got into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
They will look at his 12-year career and see a man who played on three teams, eclipsed 30 passing touchdowns in a season just three times, and only hit the 4,000-yard barrier on a trio of occasions. They will point out that Warner almost had more combined fumbles (73) and interceptions (128) than touchdown passes (208). Those same critics will say he was injury-prone and only played 16 games three times.
All of those critics will be right, but completely missing the point. Warner authored perhaps the greatest rags-to-riches story in NFL history. He also deserves to be making his Hall of Fame speech this summer.
Everyone knows the tale at this point. The journeyman went from Northern Iowa and stocking groceries at a Hy-Vee to the Arena Football League’s Iowa Barnstormers. From there, Warner made the St. Louis Rams in 1998 before being thrust into the starting role the following season after Trent Green blew his knee out in the second preseason game.
That year, Warner put forth one of the greatest campaigns ever witnessed. Taking over a team that hadn’t seen — or sniffed — the postseason since 1989, Warner became only the second quarterback in league history to throw for more than 40 touchdowns in a season. He completed 65 percent of his throws for an absurd 8.72 yards per attempt, logging 41 touchdowns against 13 interceptions. All told, Warner finished with 4,353 passing yards, earning MVP honors.
In the postseason, Warner finished off the fairy tale. In the Divisional round, Warner threw for 391 and five touchdowns against the Minnesota Vikings. In the NFC Championship Game, he laced a precision pass down the left sideline to Ricky Proehl late in the fourth quarter, vanquishing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Then, in Super Bowl XXXIV, Warner threw for a Super Sunday-record 414 yards and two touchdowns, including the 73-yard game-winner to Isaac Bruce out of the two-minute warning.
The rest of his career would search for that same beautiful ending, but never find it. Warner got back to the Super Bowl with another MVP season in 2001, throwing for 4,830 yards, but lost to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. After getting hurt, losing his job to Marc Bulger and going to the New York Giants, he was benched again for Eli Manning. In 2005, Warner showed up with the Arizona Cardinals to back up Matt Leinart. Instead, Warner won the job and took the sad-sack Cardinals to the Super Bowl in 2008, throwing for 4,583 yards and 30 touchdowns.
Warner was brilliant, albeit with spurts of injury and ineffectiveness. He was a savant with the football, taking two long lost franchises to the Super Bowl, and winning a ring in the process. He is the definition of never quitting, and toughness in the face of adversity.
Warner’s football tombstone is complicated, but it ultimately rests in the right place. Canton, Ohio.
