The top QBs all time in QB Rating (including playoffs)

QBs with the lowest interception % with at least 200 TDs:

1. Rodgers.............. 1.6 %
2. Brady.................. 1.9 %
3. McNabb............. 2.2 %
4. Ryan................... 2.4 %
5. Brees.................. 2.5 %
5. Rivers................. 2.5 %
7. Montana........... 2.6 %
7. Young................ 2.6 %
9. Manning........... 2.7 %
9. Roethlisberger. 2.7 %
9. Romo................ 2.7 %

Remaining QBs with at least 200 TDs:
Hasselbeck........... 2.9 %
Marino................... 3.0 %
Palmer.................. 3.0 %
Elway.................... 3.1 %
Bledsoe................ 3.1 %
Warner................ 3.1 %
Collins................. 3.1 %
Cunningham....... 3.1 %
E. Manning.......... 3.2 %
Cutler.................. 3.2 %
Favre.................... 3.3 %
Gabriel................. 3.3 %
Moon.................... 3.4 %
Esiason................ 3.5 %
Everett................. 3.6 %
Kelly.................... 3.7 %
Krieg.................... 3.7 %
Testaverde.......... 4.0 %
Tarkenton............ 4.1 %
Fouts................... 4.3 %
Jurgenson........... 4.4 %
Unitas.................. 4.9 %
Dawson.............. 4.9 %
Hart..................... 4.9 %
Brodie................. 5.0 %
Bradshaw............ 5.4 %
Tittle.................... 5.6 %
Hadl.................... 5.7 %
Blanda................ 6.9 %

 

So the big question is, where will history place Brees in the pantheon of great NFL QBs? If he breaks all the records as Favre had done initially and now Manning is doing and then Brees ends up trumping them all, where is he in the top 10? Is he even in the top 10 after all that? Nobody has Brees in their top 10 list as it stands now (and almost all don't have them in their top 15).

The usual suspects are

Montana
Brady
Manning
Unitas
Marino
Favre
Elway
Young
Aikman
Tarkenton
Staubach
Starr
Bradshaw
Graham

Brees needs to be at least no worst than 7th right now, ahead of Elway. After 3 more seasons, Brees will most likely be 4th all time in wins as well, so even that can't be the one stat line that hurts him. And if that's the case, he is no worst than 4th behind Brady, Montana and Manning and a very strong argument would be made for him passing Manning on the list as well.

ranker.com does have him 12th

 

Also consider the divisions they played in, Brady has had very little competition to win that division except for the Jets in a couple of seasons with Rex Ryan. The Bills and Dolphins have offered no resistance at all lo these past 15 seasons. Manning has the same story. He had Tennessee early on and then that's it for the South division of the AFC. Texans and Jags were easy pickins year after year after year. There has been some token resistance in the AFC West with the Chiefs, but we all know that it's not significant.

In the only time period where Brees had a defense 2009-2011 and 2013, the W-L record was 48-15, competing against the likes of Tom Brady during those same years (49-15). So essentially Brees was just a start away (last game of 2009) from having the exact same record.

 

Most game winning drives (regular season + playoffs):

1. Brady................ 57
2. Manning........... 56
3. Marino.............. 55
4. Elway................ 48
5. Favre................ 47
6. Brees................ 41
7. Roethlisberger 39
7. Moon............... 39
9. E. Manning...... 38
9. Montana.......... 38

I did some research a short while back on all the game winning drives that were ruined by either a missed FG or the defense giving the lead back for Brees, and it was 16 times in the regular season and twice more in the playoffs (Kaeding missed a game winning FG as time was running out in regulation only to lose in OT, and the 49er debacle in which Brees seemingly drove us to victory on two different occasions). I would venture to guess that number of missed opportunities to pad the stats for Brady and Manning are in the single digits and probably closer to 5.

 

To add on the stats just above, it is well documented how much of a choke job that Manning has been in the playoffs. There is no stat line more indicative of this than the disparity in % games in which he has led the team to game winning drives during the regular season vs the playoffs. It is nearly 21 % during the regular season (55 times in 256 games) and 4 % during the playoffs (once in 24 games). Brady's numbers are higher during the playoffs as well as Brees and Elway. Marino had very similar numbers. Favre suffered the same as Manning having engineered a game winning drive only twice in 24 playoff games.

 

Top 15 QB Ratings in NFL playoff history (as of 01/11/16):

Minimum 8 starts.

1. Bart Starr............ 104.8
2. Kurt Warner....... 102.8
3. Drew Brees........ 100.7
4. Aaron Rodgers.. 100.3
5. Joe Montana........ 95.6
6. Russell Wilson..... 93.9
7. Joe Theisman...... 91.4
8. E. Manning.......... 89.3
9. Tom Brady.......... 89.0
10. Joe Flacco.......... 88.6
11. P. Manning........ 88.5
12. Troy Aikman..... 88.3
13. Brett Favre........ 86.3
14. Steve Young...... 85.8
15. Philip Rivers...... 85.2