Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas had a three-game stretch during Weeks 8-10 of the 1960 season in which he completed 54 of 103 passes for 979 yards, with seven touchdowns. But he also threw 10 interceptions over the course of those three games, and the defending champion Colts started a late-season skid, falling from first place to fourth place.
Fifty years later, Peyton Manning has done Unitas one better. Or one worse.
As I wrote in today’s Wall Street Journal, Manning’s passer rating of 77.7 in the last three games has topped Unitas’s rating of 68.4 in those three games in 1960, and is now the highest rating ever for a three-game stretch in which a quarterback throws at least 10 interceptions.
Basically, Manning has alternated from great (completing 105 of 148 passes for 1,046 yards and eight touchdowns) to terrible (11 interceptions) over the last three games. And the terrible side has won out, with the Colts falling from 6-3 to 6-6.