Top 10 quarterbacks in Steelers history

5. Bobby Layne

This hall-of-famer earned his way into the hallowed halls in Canton based mostly on his career with the Detroit Lions.

Layne finished his career in Pittsburgh retiring after nearly five solid seasons. In those seasons as a Steeler, he passed for 6,959 yards which included 66 touchdown passes.

As a player in Detroit, Layne had the reputation of being a hard partying man off the field that included a drunk driving arrest. In his final season with Detroit, then-head coach George Wilson caused a quarterback controversy in 1958 stating that he was not satisfied with the play of Layne.

Unbeknownst to Layne, he was traded to the Steelers shortly thereafter. In response to the trade, Layne reportedly told the media that the Lions will not win for 50 years.

That story has never been substantiated, but Detroit would establish the worst won/loss percentage for any team in the NFL over those next 50 years. The Detroit Lions have yet to make a Super Bowl appearance,joining only the Cleveland Browns and the Jacksonville Jaguars as teams who have been kept out of the big game.

Detroit has returned to winning ways behind the quarterbacking of Matthew Stafford. Stafford ironically graduated from the same high school as Bobby Layne and grew up in a house on the same street where Layne was raised.

Layne’s only opportunity for revenge came twice when the Steelers and Lions met on November 8, 1959 and again on September 16, 1962.

In that first meeting the game finished in a 10-10 tie. Layne was responsible for kicking a 29-yard field goal to give Pittsburgh its first points of the game and then threw a fourth quarter 20-yard touchdown pass to Tom Tracy to knot the final score.

In the second meeting, the outcome was much different. Detroit destroyed the Steelers on the road 45-7 as Layne threw for just 76 yards.

Next: 4. Kordell Stewart