Final Results

Qualification: minimum 224 pass attempts (14 per scheduled game).

How QER is calculated

QER starts with the Pass Score, adds a bonus worth up to five points for rushing, and is capped at 100. A quarterback is never penalized for not running. All percentiles are calculated among qualified quarterbacks from the same season.

QER = min(100, Pass Score + Rush Bonus)

Pass Score

The Pass Score combines Passing Efficiency (75%) with Production (25%).

Passing Efficiency

  • Success percentage (30% of Passing Efficiency): How often pass plays meet the success criteria for the down and distance.
  • Yards per attempt (25%): Passing yards gained per attempt, rewarding efficient downfield production.
  • Interception avoidance (20%): Rewards a lower percentage of attempts resulting in interceptions.
  • Passing first-down percentage (15%): The percentage of attempts that produce a first down.
  • Completion percentage (10%): The percentage of pass attempts completed.

Production

  • Passing yards (50% of Production): Total passing yardage over the season.
  • Passing touchdowns (30%): Total touchdown passes.
  • Passing first downs (20%): Total first downs produced through the air.

Rush Score

Rushing production is measured per quarterback play, where QB plays = pass attempts + sacks + rushing attempts. This prevents a small number of carries from dominating the rating.

  • Successful rushes per QB play (30% of Rush Score): Estimated successful carries based on rushing attempts and rushing success percentage.
  • Rushing first downs per QB play (25%): How often rushing creates a first down.
  • Rushing yards per QB play (25%): Rushing production relative to the quarterback’s total workload.
  • Rushing touchdowns per QB play (10%): Rushing scoring production relative to total workload.
  • Fumble avoidance per QB play (10%): Rewards quarterbacks who protect the football across their total workload.

The Rush Score is multiplied by 5% to create the Rush Bonus. A perfect Rush Score adds five points; a quarterback with no rushing value loses no points.

Rank Player Team G QER Pass Score Pass Efficiency Production Rush Score Rush Bonus Cmp Att Cmp% Yds Y/A TD Int Int% 1D 1D% Succ% Rush Att Rush Yds Rush TD Rush 1D Rush Succ% Fumbles
1 Ken O’Brien NYJ 16 96.2 94.3 95.6 90.4 38.2 1.9 297 488 60.9 3888 8.0 25 8 1.6 199 40.8 47.5 25 58 0 5 36.0 14
2 Dan Marino MIA 16 87.4 86.9 82.5 100.0 9.9 0.5 336 567 59.3 4137 7.3 30 21 3.7 214 37.7 50.9 26 -24 0 0 3.8 9
3 Boomer Esiason CIN 15 87.3 84.7 87.9 74.8 51.8 2.6 251 431 58.2 3443 8.0 27 12 2.8 160 37.1 46.2 33 79 1 5 39.4 9
4 Dan Fouts SDG 14 86.2 85.9 86.1 85.5 5.6 0.3 254 430 59.1 3638 8.5 27 20 4.7 177 41.2 51.1 11 -1 0 0 0.0 13
5 Joe Montana SFO 15 86.0 81.9 80.9 84.8 83.4 4.2 303 494 61.3 3653 7.4 27 13 2.6 164 33.2 45.2 42 153 3 18 50.0 5
6 Phil Simms NYG 16 82.7 80.4 78.4 86.2 46.2 2.3 275 495 55.6 3829 7.7 22 20 4.0 193 39.0 45.9 37 132 0 7 27.0 16
7 Danny White DAL 14 69.2 67.4 68.6 63.9 36.8 1.8 267 450 59.3 3157 7.0 21 17 3.8 154 34.2 45.8 22 44 1 4 22.7 6
8 Jim McMahon CHI 13 68.7 64.0 74.5 32.5 93.6 4.7 178 313 56.9 2392 7.6 15 11 3.5 103 32.9 44.5 47 252 3 18 46.8 4
9 Bill Kenney KAN 16 62.9 61.9 67.7 44.6 19.3 1.0 181 338 53.6 2536 7.5 17 9 2.7 111 32.8 42.3 14 1 1 2 14.3 6
10 Dieter Brock RAM 15 62.4 60.0 63.9 48.4 47.0 2.3 218 365 59.7 2658 7.3 16 13 3.6 120 32.9 41.8 20 38 0 7 45.0 6
11 Neil Lomax STL 16 62.1 59.5 58.3 63.2 50.7 2.5 265 471 56.3 3214 6.8 18 12 2.5 156 33.1 41.7 32 125 0 8 37.5 10
12 Ron Jaworski PHI 16 60.5 58.7 56.1 66.4 37.1 1.9 255 484 52.7 3450 7.1 17 20 4.1 164 33.9 42.5 17 35 2 4 29.4 5
13 Tommy Kramer MIN 15 59.1 57.4 52.0 73.8 33.0 1.7 277 506 54.7 3522 7.0 19 26 5.1 169 33.4 42.6 27 54 0 4 25.9 9
14 Eric Hipple DET 16 57.0 54.2 53.6 56.1 57.0 2.8 223 406 54.9 2952 7.3 17 18 4.4 137 33.7 40.7 32 89 2 8 37.5 13
15 John Elway DEN 16 55.1 51.1 38.4 89.1 79.8 4.0 327 605 54.0 3891 6.4 22 23 3.8 190 31.4 41.2 51 253 0 20 52.9 7
16 Dave Krieg SEA 16 51.1 48.4 37.1 82.3 54.8 2.7 285 532 53.6 3602 6.8 27 20 3.8 167 31.4 39.4 35 121 1 9 45.7 11
17 Steve DeBerg TAM 11 47.3 46.0 45.1 48.7 26.6 1.3 197 370 53.2 2488 6.7 19 18 4.9 118 31.9 42.9 9 28 0 2 33.3 3
18 Lynn Dickey GNB 12 43.3 42.1 45.0 33.2 24.1 1.2 172 314 54.8 2206 7.0 15 17 5.4 113 36.0 41.3 18 -12 1 3 16.7 8
19 Tony Eason NWE 16 43.1 40.7 46.4 23.4 49.1 2.5 168 299 56.2 2156 7.2 11 17 5.7 96 32.1 42.2 22 70 1 3 22.7 4
20 Mark Malone PIT 10 40.3 36.5 45.6 8.9 77.3 3.9 117 233 50.2 1428 6.1 13 7 3.0 78 33.5 42.0 15 80 1 7 60.0 3
21 Warren Moon HOU 14 39.1 35.7 32.3 45.7 68.8 3.4 200 377 53.1 2709 7.2 15 19 5.0 113 30.0 38.8 39 130 0 12 46.2 12
22 Marc Wilson RAI 16 35.3 32.3 27.2 47.3 60.2 3.0 193 388 49.7 2608 6.7 16 21 5.4 126 32.5 39.8 24 98 2 7 41.7 8
23 Mike Pagel IND 16 31.2 27.3 25.4 32.9 78.4 3.9 199 393 50.6 2414 6.1 14 15 3.8 110 28.0 39.7 25 160 2 10 64.0 6
24 Bruce Mathison BUF 10 23.6 19.4 24.6 3.6 84.1 4.2 113 228 49.6 1635 7.2 4 14 6.1 71 31.1 39.2 27 231 1 13 55.6 8
25 Joe Theismann WAS 11 22.9 19.1 20.4 15.2 77.3 3.9 167 301 55.5 1774 5.9 8 16 5.3 89 29.6 39.3 25 115 2 7 40.0 4
26 Bernie Kosar CLE 12 22.0 21.4 26.4 6.2 12.5 0.6 124 248 50.0 1578 6.4 8 7 2.8 73 29.4 37.1 26 -12 1 1 7.7 14
27 David Archer ATL 16 19.2 14.7 14.1 16.4 90.9 4.5 161 312 51.6 1992 6.4 7 17 5.4 88 28.2 37.5 70 347 2 20 41.4 9
28 Dave Wilson NOR 10 12.9 11.5 9.5 17.7 27.3 1.4 145 293 49.5 1843 6.3 11 15 5.1 81 27.6 33.4 18 7 0 3 16.7 6
29 Vince Ferragamo BUF 10 8.4 7.0 6.4 8.6 29.1 1.5 149 287 51.9 1677 5.8 5 17 5.9 79 27.5 38.2 8 15 1 2 25.0 1