Teams
- Atlanta Falcons (1975-1985)
- Los Angeles Rams (1986)
Accolades
- 2x Pro Bowl (1980, 1981)
- NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year (1975)
“The best one I had here [in Atlanta], the one who had the most talent, was Steve Bartkowski. Prior to him hurting his knees, I don’t think there was a better quarterback in the league.”
—Leeman Bennett, former Head Coach, Atlanta Falcons (source)
Steve Bartkowski is that classic guy whose legacy is simultaneously enhanced and tainted by the franchise for which he played. What exactly does that mean? Well, he took a team from relative infancy that had been searching for its first franchise QB and made himself a local legend out of it. But because the franchise had still not been able to completely establish itself on both sides of the football, Bartkowski’s options for obtaining that ever-elusive Super Bowl ring were limited. Nonetheless, the rocket-armed kid from Des Moines carved out a terrific career for himself and while his name may be lost to younger generations, those who grew up watching the Falcons in the late ’70s and early ’80s always knew they were in a game if the original “Bartman” was taking the snaps.
Coming off a miserable 3-11 season in which they started three different quarterbacks, the Atlanta Falcons used the first overall pick in 1975 to draft consensus All-American Steve Bartkowski out of Cal-Berkeley. He would promptly start the first game of the ensuing season in a 23-20 loss to St. Louis. Bartkowski would throw for an unmemorable 81 yards and a pick, but he would show progress as the season marched forward. Even though the Falcons only finished one game better than the previous year at 4-10, they were 4-7 with their rookie QB starting the game and 0-3 without him.
Despite a promising rookie season in which he was honored by the Associated Press as Offensive Rookie of Year, Bartkowski was not immune to a sophomore slump. A meager two TD passes in five starts, together with a 1-4 record as starter and nine interceptions would assist Atlanta in matching the previous year’s 4-10 record. Bartkowski’s third season would not go much better. Despite the Falcons going 3-4 in his starts, his five TD passes were overshadowed by 13 INTs. This letdown was all the more devastating as their infamous “Grits Blitz” defense (my god I love that nickname) would give up an average of fewer than 10 points per game under Defensive Coordinator Jerry Glanville. The “Grits Blitz” would help drag Atlanta to 7-7 in ’77, two games out of the Wild Card spot.
Motivated by a resurgent defense, Steve Bartkowski looked to hold up his end of the bargain in 1978. He would start 13 of 14 games, helping the Falcons to an 8-5 record during his starts in the NFL’s first 16-game season. Finishing at 9-7, Atlanta snuck into the postseason for the organization’s first time and hosted Philadelphia in the Wild Card game. Despite two picks, Bartkowski would throw for both of Atlanta’s scores, part of a 243-yard passing day and the franchise’s first ever playoff victory, 14-13. However, Bartkowski was no match for the Cowboys’ Doomsday Defense the following week. Despite clinging to a 20-13 halftime lead, Atlanta would fall to Dallas as Bartkowski would throw three INTs to only one TD while being held to 95 yards passing. Still, both Steve Bartkowski’s and the team’s progress seemed to hold promise for the upcoming season. Unfortunately, despite career highs in starts (14), passing yards (2,505), and touchdown passes (17), the Falcons would regress to 6-10 and miss out on the playoffs.
Rather than breaking him, Bartkowski would bounce back memorably in the first year of the 1980s. He would start all 16 games and push the Falcons to the NFC’s #1 overall seed at 12-4. The Falcons QB would more than live up to his end of the bargain, leading the league with 31 TD passes and tossing more than 3,500 yards in the air in his first Pro Bowl season. In a playoff rematch with Dallas, Bartkowski would do his very best to avenge the loss in the ’78 playoffs, throwing for 320 yards and two TDs to one INT. Yet, it was not enough as Danny White would perform ever-so-slightly better with 322 yards in the air, and THREE TDs to one pick, leading the Cowboys back from a 10-point fourth quarter deficit to a 30-27 victory.
The 1981 season would be a heartbreaking role-reversal of the ’77 season. This time, it was Atlanta’s defense that let down the team, giving up the fifth-most points in the NFC. The Falcons would lose their last three regular season games by a combined eight points, taking them from 7-6 to 7-9 and on the outside-looking-in on the playoffs. This despite Bartkowski’s second-straight 30 TD season. He would again start all 16 games and this time throw for an awesome 3,829 yards en route to another Pro Bowl award. During the strike-shortened 1982 season, Bartkowski would start all nine games. He would only throw 8 TDs to 11 picks, but saw his accuracy jump to a career-high 63.4%. The 5-4 Falcons made the playoffs for the third time in five years. However, they would again be knocked out of the playoffs in a close game, being downed by the Vikings 30-24 in Minnesota. Bartkowski would struggle mightily, going 9-23 for 134 yards and two INTs to no TDs.
Sadly, this would be the last sniff the Falcons’ first-ever star quarterback would get towards the Super Bowl. He would have an outstanding 1983 season in which he threw for over 3,000 yards for the final time. With an incredible 22:5 TD-to-INT ratio, Bartkowski would lead the NFL in both interceptions per attempt (1.2%) and passer rating (97.6). Still, Atlanta would only finish 7-9. In a last hurrah, Steve Bartkowski would start 11 games in 1984, leading the league with a 67.3% completion rate in an otherwise dismal 4-12 Atlanta campaign. Bartkowski would make five starts for the Falcons in ’85, and six more for the L.A. Rams at his final stop in 1986, as age and wear-and-tear finally caught up to the Iowan.
During the franchise’s first decade, the Atlanta Falcons were lost in the woods, experiencing only two winning seasons and no playoff berths. Then they invested in an All-American from Cal-Berkeley. He started slow, but rewarded his drafting organization with some outstanding seasons in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Unfortunately, the prime of the “Grits Blitz” and Steve Bartkowski’s maturation into one of the game’s best passers didn’t quite align for the Falcons to do something truly special. But Bartkowski (wearing those GORGEOUS red uniforms) would be the key factor in helping Atlanta evolve from one of the league’s punching bags into one of the NFL’s most existing aerial assaults of the early 1980s.
Deviation Chart
| Season | W-L% | Tot Y/G | Tot TD/G | Tot TO/G | Y/C/Y/A | Cmp % | TD% | Int% |
| Reg Season | -0.020 | -0.059 | -0.005 | 0.066 | 0.002 | 0.026 | 0.031 | 0.039 |
| Playoffs | -0.014 | -0.049 | -0.044 | -0.061 | 0.101 | -0.111 | 0.000 | -0.178 |
Longevity Bonus = 0.7 Title Bonus = 0.0
Index Score = 1.091 (average QB = 0.0)
Deviation Rank (out of 155)
| Season | W-L% | Tot Y/G | Tot TD/G | Tot TO/G | Y/C/Y/A | Cmp % | TD% | Int% |
| Reg Season | 115th | 128th | 84th | 57th | 91st | 63rd | 54th | 63rd |
| Playoffs | T-124th | 97th | 87th | 113th | 29th | 131st | 54th | 130th |
Why is he on the Top 100 list?
Steve Bartkowski may not have been elite compared to the greatest QBs, but his numbers are still pretty good. He makes the Top 100 in six of eight regular season categories, topping off at #54 in TDs per attempt. While his teams didn’t have a ton of playoff success, you can’t pin it all on him. He’s #29 in terms of average yards/completion + yards/attempt and #54 in TD rate.
Why isn’t he higher on the list?
Simply put, the Falcons struggles at the beginning and end of his career really hurt him. He falls in the bottom 40 of regular season win-loss percentage and a 1-3 playoff record doesn’t help either. Also, he rushed for a mere 239 yards in 12 seasons (or about 20 yards per season), essentially limiting his total yards per game to just passing stats and placing him in the bottom 30 for the regular season in this category.
The Quarterback Project 