For the 14th time in the last 16 years, the AFC Super Bowl team will be quarterbacked by Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger or Peyton Manning.
That became certain when Brady’s Patriots and Roethlisberger’s Steelers won this weekend to meet in the AFC Championship Game. Either Brady will start his seventh Super Bowl, adding to his own NFL record, or Roethlisberger will start his fourth. Manning also started four.
The only other quarterback to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl in the last 13 years was Joe Flacco, whose team topped Roethlisberger’s Steelers to win the AFC North in 2012, then beat Manning’s Broncos in the divisional playoffs and Brady’s Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. Before that, the last other quarterback to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl was Rich Gannon, whose 2002 Raiders dethroned Brady’s 2001 Patriots as reigning AFC champions.
Sunday will be, incredibly, the 11th time Brady has started in the AFC Championship Game. It will be Roethlisberger’s fifth AFC Championship Game. Manning also started five AFC Championship Games.
Since 2001, the Patriots have advanced to 11 AFC Championship Games, the Steelers six (five with Roethlisberger, one without), the Colts four (three with Manning, one without) and the Broncos three (two with Manning, one without). So counting this year, those four teams will have accounted for 24 AFC Championship Game appearances since the 2001 season, with the other 12 AFC teams accounting for a combined eight AFC Championship Game appearances.
Here’s a list of the starting AFC quarterbacks in the Super Bowl for every season in the 21st Century:
2001: Tom Brady, Patriots.
2002: Rich Gannon, Raiders.
2003: Tom Brady, Patriots.
2004: Tom Brady, Patriots.
2005: Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers.
2006: Peyton Manning, Colts.
2007: Tom Brady, Patriots.
2008: Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers.
2009: Peyton Manning, Colts.
2010: Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers.
2011: Tom Brady, Patriots.
2012: Joe Flacco, Ravens.
2013: Peyton Manning, Broncos.
2014: Tom Brady, Patriots.
2015: Peyton Manning, Broncos.
2016: Brady or Roethlisberger.