January 2023
The All-America Football Conference (AAFC), the first major competitor to the NFL, folded in 1950 after four seasons. Before the final curtain however, there of its franchises merged with the NFL: The Baltimore Colts, the Cleveland Browns, and the San Francisco 49ers. Along with those franchises came two budding stars at the quarterback position. Cleveland’s Otto Graham would go on to win three MVPs and three championships before retiring after the 1955 season. The other star on the rise was Baltimore’s 24-year old gunslinger Y.A. Tittle. After one season, Baltimore would cease operations and their players would be entered into the 1951 National Football League Draft. At #3 overall, Tittle would find himself chosen by former AAFC rival San Francisco. There he would blossom into a quality NFL quarterback, making Pro Bowl squads in ’53 and ’54, and leading the league in TD passes in ’55.
The original Baltimore Colts closed up shop after one NFL season in 1950. But after the original Dallas Texans folded in 1952, the NFL awarded a new franchise to Baltimore which took on many of the Texans’ players in addition to the “Colts” moniker. Following the inaugural season of the new iteration of the Colts, the franchise hired Wilbur Charles “Weeb” Ewbank as head coach. And while the Colts were a middling team for the first few seasons of their new existence, they made one more transaction that would revolutionize the franchise. In spring of 1956, they signed Johnny Unitas from the semi-pro Bloomfield Rams. He would outplay Baltimore’s primary starter that year, George Shaw, and officially take over the starting role in ’57.
Rookie Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown won the first ever Associated Press Most Valuable Player award in 1957, along with a host of other accolades. And deservedly so, as his 942 rushing yards easily led his counterparts, none of whom surpassed 700 yards on the ground. But not far behind the great running back were two quarterbacks, Tittle and Unitas, who combined for a little over half the MVP votes. So while Jim Brown took home the very first AP MVP award, which of those two future Hall of Fame gunslingers was most deserving of runner-up honors?
1957 AP MVP VOTING
| Player | Position | Team | Votes |
| Jim Brown | RB | Cleveland Browns | 14 |
| Y.A. Tittle | QB | San Francisco 49ers | 10 |
| Johnny Unitas | QB | Baltimore Colts | 7 |
| Joe Schmidt | MLB | Detroit Lions | 3 |
| Duane Putnam | RG | Los Angeles Rams | 1 |
| Billy Wilson | LE | San Francisco 49ers | 1 |
The AP MVP award is given to the best player during the regular season. This exercise will look at the regular season and postseason performances of Y.A. Tittle and Johnny Unitas, compared to the average signal caller in 1957 over eight categories:
- Win-loss percentage (40% of value of the other seven categories)
- Total yards per game
- Total touchdowns per game
- Total turnovers per game (interceptions + fumbles)
- Average of yards per completion + yards per pass attempt
- Completion percentage
- Touchdowns per pass attempt
- Interceptions per pass attempt
Note: For this exercise, bonus points are not awarded for number of starts, but are awarded for winning the NFL Championship (where applicable).
The Regular Season
As mentioned earlier, the 31-year old Y.A. Tittle was a well-established field general come 1957. One season prior, the LSU alum had finished second in the league in completion percentage, and fourth in passing yards despite not starting four of San Francisco’s twelve regular season contests. And 1957 may have been his finest NFL season thus far. His 176 completions and 63.1% completion rate both led the league. He further placed second in passing yards (2,157), and third in both passing touchdowns (13) and QB rating (80.0). Tittle did throw more INTs (15) than TDs, but that was fairly common for the time. Only three quarterbacks who started more than half their respective team’s games in ’57 tossed more touchdowns than picks.
Cut by his hometown Pittsburgh Steelers in 1955, rookie Louisville alum Johnny Unitas had to scrape by with the semi-pro Bloomfield Rams until given a shot as a back-up on the Baltimore Colts one year later. When primary starter George Shaw suffered a broken leg, Unitas got the opportunity to spot him for seven starts. The results were iffy (10 TDs; 10 INTs; 74.0 QB rating). But in ’57, Unitas won the starting job outright, and began to build his legacy as arguably the greatest to ever play the game. His 212.5 pass yards per game were more than 30 better than second-best Y.A. Tittle. Johnny U also threw a league-best 24 touchdown passes and topped the NFL with an 88.0 QB rating.
Battling for a division title, the Cots and the 49ers faced off twice in three games late in the 1957 season. Both were tight-knit battles with the home team coming out on top with dramatic go-ahead touchdowns in the final period. In two contests, Johnny Unitas averaged 274 yards per game and scored two touchdowns. Meanwhile, Y.A. Tittle averaged 312 yards per game and scored three touchdowns.
As a result of his on-field play, the accolades poured in for Y.A. Tittle. He was designated a First-Time All-Pro and named to his third Pro Bowl. And along with finishing second in Associated Press MVP voting, he was named the league’s Most Valuable Player by United Press International (UPI). The 49ers won seven of Tittle’s 11 starts and, in finishing 8-4, won a share of the NFL West Division crown.
A superb sophomore season also saw Johnny Unitas receive great acclaim. He earned his first Pro Bowl nod and was named a Second-Team All-Pro. Unitas also finished second in UPI MVP voting, and third in AP MVP voting. The only area in which he fell short was a playoff berth. While Baltimore started 7-3, they dropped their final two regular season contests, and the 7-5 final record left the Colts one game behind the Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers in the NFC West Division race.
1957 Regular Season Stats
| Regular Season | W-L% | Y/G | TD/G | TO/G | YC/YA | Cmp% | TD% | INT% |
| Y.A. Tittle | 63.6% | 207.5 | 1.7 | 1.4 | 10.0 | 63.1% | 4.7% | 5.4% |
| Johnny Unitas | 58.3% | 226.8 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 11.6 | 57.1% | 8.0% | 5.6% |
| NFL Average | 50.0% | 179.3 | 1.4 | 2.1 | 11.1 | 50.5% | 5.1% | 6.9% |
1957 Regular Season Deviation
| Regular Season | W-L% | Y/G | TD/G | TO/G | YC/YA | Cmp% | TD% | INT% |
| Y.A. Tittle | 0.076 | 0.095 | 0.097 | 0.138 | -0.096 | 0.249 | -0.035 | 0.088 |
| Johnny Unitas | 0.047 | 0.159 | 0.200 | 0.016 | 0.054 | 0.132 | 0.225 | 0.073 |
On the surface Johnny Unitas seemed to have the superior year. His 226.8 total yards per game were nearly 20 per game better than quarterback rival Y.A. Tittle. Unitas also scored 25 touchdowns in 12 games, while Tittle scored 19 TDs in 11 contests. But the 49ers signal caller was a little more accurate than his Colts counterpart, with a completion rate of 63.1% to 57.1%. And most importantly, Tittle led the Niners to an 8-4 record and a playoff appearance while Unitas and the Colts fell just short at 7-5.
Looking at the total picture, Unitas had the slightly better regular season from a numbers standpoint, with a 1.13 index score. Tittle still had a terrific regular season, posting a 0.70 index score (note: average QB index score = 0.0). That said, in their two head-to-head match-ups Tittle put up the better numbers. His squad also made the playoffs.
The Postseason
One week after clinching a share of the NFL West Division crown, the San Francisco 49ers welcomed the Detroit Lions to Kezar Stadium. A dream match-up of future Hall-of-Famers Y.A. Tittle and Bobby Layne (who had led the Leos to championships in ’52 and ’53) never came to fruition as Layne suffered a broken ankle just two weeks prior to their match-up. So it was up to his replacement, veteran Tobin Rote, to lead Detroit into battle. San Francisco cruised to a 24-7 halftime lead behind three Tittle touchdown passes. And after a field goal made it a 27-7 contest in the third quarter, it looked like the 49ers were on the way to their first NFL Championship Game.
Then in one of the most stunning comebacks in NFL postseason history, Detroit scored 24 unanswered points over the next quarter-and-a-half to stun the home team, 31-27. And while Tittle had a phenomenal start with three touchdowns, he also ended up with three picks and three fumbles in the shattering defeat. The following week, the Lions would go on to crush the Cleveland Browns, 57-14, to win their third title in six seasons.
1957 Postseason Stats
| Playoffs | W-L% | Y/G | TD/G | TO/G | YC/YA | Cmp% | TD% | INT% |
| Y.A. Tittle | 0.0% | 236.0 | 3.0 | 6.0 | 10.9 | 58.1% | 9.7% | 9.7% |
| Johnny Unitas | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| NFL Average | 50.0% | 234.0 | 2.5 | 3.3 | 9.2 | 54.9% | 8.8% | 7.8% |
1957 Postseason Deviation
| Playoffs | W-L% | Y/G | TD/G | TO/G | YC/YA | Cmp% | TD% | INT% |
| Y.A. Tittle | -0.280 | 0.005 | 0.080 | 0.338 | 0.178 | 0.058 | 0.039 | 0.094 |
| Johnny Unitas | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
While Y.A. Tittle posted three scores in the West Division playoff, he also combined for six fumbles + interceptions. As compared to the cumulative quarterback play for the 1957 NFL postseason, Tittle’s playoff index score comes in at -0.04.
The Postgame Show
Taking both regular season and playoff performance into account, Johnny Unitas had a better overall year than Y.A. Tittle. Unitas ends up with a 0.57 final index score for the 1957 season while Tittle posted an index score of 0.33.
While it would be Y.A. Tittle’s last hurrah in a 49ers uniform (he would be traded to the Giants just prior to the 1961 season), his greatest triumphs were yet to come. He absolutely dominated defenses over the next three years in New York as the G-Men went an astounding 31-5-1 in his starts. Tittle broke the single-season touchdown pass record with 33 in ’62, and finished second in Associated Press MVP voting. Then he broke his own record one year later with 36 TD passes (despite missing one game), helping earn him the AP MVP award. But if there was one disappointment, it was a big one as the Giants lost in the NFL Championship Game all three of those seasons. In ’61 and ’62 they fell to Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers, and in ’63 to George Halas’ Chicago Bears. Tittle played one final season, but sadly the lingering image from that year is one that epitomizes the brutality of the game. He would retire after winning just one of 11 starts in ’64, but go on to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971.
Johnny Unitas’ star was born in ’57. One year later he helped progress the NFL towards becoming America’s most popular spectator sport as he led the Baltimore Colts to their first NFL Championship in “The Greatest Game Ever Played”. He would then lead the Colts to another title in ’59 while winning the first of three AP MVP awards. Over his vaunted career, Unitas would be named to the Pro Bowl ten times, lead the NFL in passing yards four times, passing TDs four times, and QB rating three times. He also started the Colts’ victory in Super Bowl V, although an injured rib would cause him to miss the game’s second half. Unitas would play through the 1973 season (in San Diego – his lone year outside Baltimore) before following Tittle into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979.
The Quarterback Project 