In the past 25 years, the University of Alabama has won four national championships (and will play for its fifth later this month), seven SEC titles, two Heisman Trophy winners and has produced hundreds of NFL players. Arguably, it’s been the most successful college football program over that time. But there’s one odd, bizarre and almost unthinkable blemish on ‘Bama’s football dynasty: It hasn’t produced a starting quarterback who’s won an NFL game since 1987.

This stat is important this week as former Alabama starter AJ McCarron, who won three national titles at the school, finished second in Heisman voting and completed his run with the Crimson Tide with a remarkable 36-4 record in his three seasons a starter, is set to start for the Cincinnati Bengals after the team’s quarterback, Andy Dalton, suffered a thumb injury during Sunday’s loss to the Steelers.

McCarron will get his chance to break Alabama’s run of QB futility on Sunday at home against the 49ers. Unfortunately for the Bengals, he’ll get plenty of more chances, as Dalton’s injury is feared to be bad enough to keep him out for the season, a devastating blow to a team that started 8-0 but his lost three of five.

The last Alabama quarterback to win a game as a starter was Jeff Rutledge, a journeyman NFL quarterback who won a national championship with Bear Bryant in 1978. He bounced around the league from the Rams to the Giants to the Redskins, getting his only two career wins in ’87 with New York. (In 1990, however, he came in early in a crazy Redskins-Lions game in which Washington was down 21 points in the second half and Rutledge went 30-42 for 362 yards and one touchdown to lead the ‘Skins to a victory. But again, he didn’t start.) So think about that: The best program in college football hasn’t had a good enough quarterback to win an NFL game since Ronald Reagan was in office.

It wasn’t always this way, of course. Bart Starr, Ken Stabler and Joe Namath all went to Alabama, making this drought all the more strange.

But there really hasn’t been many candidates to get that next ‘Bama W. The only Alabama quarterbacks drafted since Rutledge have been Mike Shula, Jay Barker, Brodie Croyle and Greg McElroy. Shula and Barker never played a down in the league, Croyle was 0-10 in his starts for the Chiefs over four years and McElroy threw 31 NFL passes and lost his only start with the Jets.

McCarron isn’t worried though. Tom Brady started out the same way, he said.