Counting rings is the favorite pastime of every football fan at a bar. You know how it goes. Someone brings up the GOAT debate, and suddenly everyone is shouting about "hardware" and "clutch genes." But when you actually look at the list of most superbowls all time qbs, the numbers tell a story that isn't just about who was the best thrower. It's about who survived the gauntlet.
Football is chaotic. One bad bounce or a missed holding call can ruin a legacy. Yet, a tiny group of men managed to ignore the chaos multiple times.
The Seven-Ring Problem: Tom Brady's Ridiculous Lead
Let's just get the obvious out of the way. Tom Brady has seven rings. Seven. That is more than any single franchise in NFL history. It’s honestly stupid when you think about it. Most players are lucky to see the field for three years, and this guy spent two decades treating the Super Bowl like a yearly vacation.
He won six with the New England Patriots and then, just to prove it wasn't all Bill Belichick, he hopped over to Tampa Bay and grabbed one more at age 43. He didn't just win; he evolved. Early Brady was a "game manager" who leaned on a brutal defense. Mid-career Brady was a statistical monster. Late-career Brady was basically a cyborg who knew what the defense was doing before they did.
His ten appearances are perhaps more impressive than the wins. You have to be lucky to win one. You have to be a god to get there ten times.
The Perfect 4-0 Club: Montana and Bradshaw
Before Brady broke the scale, the gold standard was four.
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Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw both have four rings, and they both did it without ever losing on the big stage. That’s a specific kind of flex.
Joe "Cool" Montana was the surgical instrument of the 84ers' West Coast offense. People talk about his 1989 run like it’s a religious experience—he threw 11 touchdowns and zero interceptions that postseason. Zero. He was basically playing Madden on Rookie mode while everyone else was fighting for their lives.
Then you’ve got Terry Bradshaw. Honestly, people underate him because that Steelers "Steel Curtain" defense was so terrifying. But Bradshaw was a vertical threat. He averaged 11.1 yards per attempt in his Super Bowl career. That’s an insane number. He wasn't dinking and dunking; he was launching bombs downfield to Lynn Swann and John Stallworth while getting hit by guys who were allowed to legally decapitate quarterbacks back then.
Patrick Mahomes and the New Era
As of 2026, the conversation has shifted entirely toward Patrick Mahomes. He’s already sitting on three rings (LIV, LVII, LVIII).
The scary part? He’s only 30.
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Mahomes is the only guy who realistically has a shot at catching Brady’s seven. He’s already tied with Troy Aikman, who led the 90s Cowboys dynasty to three wins in four years. But while Aikman had the "Triplets" and the best offensive line maybe ever, Mahomes often feels like he’s improvising a masterpiece with whatever he has.
He lost Super Bowl LV to Brady, which might be the most important "head-to-head" game in history for this specific stat. If Mahomes wins that one, he’s at four and Brady is at six. Instead, the gap stayed wide.
The Guys With Two: Excellence vs. Luck
Winning two Super Bowls is the difference between being a "great player" and a "Hall of Fame lock."
- Peyton Manning: Won with the Colts and Broncos. He’s one of the only QBs to win as a starter with two different teams (along with Brady).
- Eli Manning: The ultimate "what just happened?" quarterback. He beat Brady twice. He wasn't always elite in the regular season, but in those two playoff runs, he was untouchable.
- John Elway: Lost three times before finally winning two back-to-back to end his career.
- Ben Roethlisberger: Won two with the Steelers, including one where he had the worst statistical performance ever for a winning QB, and another where he made the greatest throw in Super Bowl history to Santonio Holmes.
There’s also Bart Starr, Roger Staubach, Bob Griese, and Jim Plunkett. Plunkett is a fascinating outlier—the only eligible QB with two rings who isn't in the Hall of Fame.
Why the Ring Count Can Be a Lie
If we only judge by most superbowls all time qbs, we’re saying Jim Plunkett is better than Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, and Dan Marino combined.
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That’s obviously not true.
Marino never won one. Rodgers only has one. Brees only has one. Sometimes the ball doesn't roll your way. The "Most Wins" list is a testament to longevity, coaching, and a front office that doesn't mess up the salary cap.
But at the end of the day, we remember the winners. We remember Brady pointing to his rings and Montana’s game-winning drive against the Bengals.
To climb this list, you need more than just a strong arm. You need a bit of magic.
Next Steps for the Stat-Obsessed Fan
To truly understand how these QBs stack up, stop looking at just the wins and start looking at Adjusted Yards Per Attempt (AY/A) in the postseason. It filters out the "carried by the defense" narrative. You should also check the Pro Football Reference Elo ratings for the teams these QBs beat in the playoffs; it gives you a much clearer picture of who had the hardest road to the trophy.