As the 2010s come to an end, there is one unmistakable N.F.L. trend: Quarterbacks are a lot more proficient than in decades past.

But the funny thing is that 10 years ago an article recapping the decade could have begun with the same statement. A steady improvement of quarterback statistics has been a theme going back to the early days of the N.F.L.’s forward-pass era. With each successive decade, numbers that seem formidable are inevitably surpassed in the 10 years that follow.

Pro football has been fundamentally a passing game for many years, a trend that may well be accelerating.

Comparing the Decades

Passing numbers were up across the board again this decade. Quarterbacks completed 21.6 passes a game, up from 19.5 last decade. They threw for 234 yards a game, up from 209. They passed for 1.6 touchdowns a game, up from 1.3.

A look at the quarterbacks who threw for the most yards in each decade since the 1940s illustrates how passing has increasingly dominated the sport.

DECADE LEADER IN PASSING YARDS 2010s DREW BREES 46,770 2000s PEYTON MANNING 42,254 1990s DAN MARINO 33,508 1980s JOE MONTANA 30,958 1970s FRAN TARKENTON 23,863 1960s JOHNNY UNITAS 26,548 1950s NORM VAN BROCKLIN 20,539 1940s SAMMY BAUGH 17,002 DECADE LEADER IN PASSING YARDS 2010s DREW BREES 46,770 2000s PEYTON MANNING 42,254 1990s DAN MARINO 33,508 1980s JOE MONTANA 30,958 1970s FRAN TARKENTON 23,863 1960s JOHNNY UNITAS 26,548 1950s NORM VAN BROCKLIN 20,539 1940s SAMMY BAUGH 17,002 DECADE LEADER IN PASSING YARDS 2010s DREW BREES 46,770 2000s PEYTON MANNING 42,254 1990s DAN MARINO 33,508 1980s JOE MONTANA 30,958 1970s FRAN TARKENTON 23,863 1960s JOHNNY UNITAS 26,548 1950s NORM VAN BROCKLIN 20,539 1940s SAMMY BAUGH 17,002 DECADE LEADER IN PASSING YARDS 2010s DREW BREES 46,770 2000s PEYTON MANNING 42,254 1990s DAN MARINO 33,508 1980s JOE MONTANA 30,958 1970s FRAN TARKENTON 23,863 1960s JOHNNY UNITAS 26,548 1950s NORM VAN BROCKLIN 20,539 1940s SAMMY BAUGH 17,002 DECADE LEADER IN PASSING YARDS 2010s DREW BREES 46,770 2000s PEYTON MANNING 42,254 1990s DAN MARINO 33,508 1980s JOE MONTANA 30,958 1970s FRAN TARKENTON 23,863 1960s JOHNNY UNITAS 26,548 1950s NORM VAN BROCKLIN 20,539 1940s SAMMY BAUGH 17,002 DECADE LEADER IN PASSING YARDS 2010s DREW BREES 46,770 2000s PEYTON MANNING 42,254 1990s DAN MARINO 33,508 1980s JOE MONTANA 30,958 1970s FRAN TARKENTON 23,863 1960s JOHNNY UNITAS 26,548 1950s NORM VAN BROCKLIN 20,539 1940s SAMMY BAUGH 17,002 DECADE LEADER IN PASSING YARDS 2010s DREW BREES 46,770 2000s PEYTON MANNING 42,254 1990s DAN MARINO 33,508 1980s JOE MONTANA 30,958 1970s FRAN TARKENTON 23,863 1960s JOHNNY UNITAS 26,548 1950s NORM VAN BROCKLIN 20,539 1940s SAMMY BAUGH 17,002 DECADE LEADER IN PASSING YARDS 2010s DREW BREES 46,770 2000s PEYTON MANNING 42,254 1990s DAN MARINO 33,508 1980s JOE MONTANA 30,958 1970s FRAN TARKENTON 23,863 1960s JOHNNY UNITAS 26,548 1950s NORM VAN BROCKLIN 20,539 1940s SAMMY BAUGH 17,002 DECADE LEADER IN PASSING YARDS YARDS PER GAME 2010s DREW BREES 306 2000s PEYTON MANNING 264 1990s DAN MARINO 241 1980s JOE MONTANA 229 1970s FRAN TARKENTON 199 1960s JOHNNY UNITAS 212 1950s NORM VAN BROCKLIN 171 1940s SAMMY BAUGH 160 DECADE LEADER IN PASSING YARDS YDS PER GAME 2010s DREW BREES 306 2000s PEYTON MANNING 264 1990s DAN MARINO 241 1980s JOE MONTANA 229 1970s FRAN TARKENTON 199 1960s JOHNNY UNITAS 212 1950s NORM VAN BROCKLIN 171 1940s SAMMY BAUGH 160 PASSING YARDS A GAME LEAGUE AVG. 2010s 234 2000s 209 1990s 205 1980s 204 1970s 156 1960s 179 1950s 167 1940s 144 DECADE LEADER IN PASSING YARDS LEAGUE AVG 2010s 234 2000s 209 1990s 205 1980s 204 1970s 156 1960s 179 1950s 167 1940s 144









Drew Brees threw for more yards than any quarterback in the 2010s, far outpacing the passing leader in any previous decade. In fact, four players — Brees, Matt Ryan, Philip Rivers and Tom Brady — have all thrown more yards this decade than Peyton Manning did in the 2000s. Of the decade leaders, only Fran Tarkenton failed to surpass the previous decade’s total, which was amassed by Johnny Unitas. Of course, teams didn’t always play 16-game schedules, so recent players have had more chances to accumulate yards. But for these passing leaders, the trend also holds true for average passing yards a game, with improvements every decade except in the 1970s. And it’s not just these elite quarterbacks, either. Here is the league average in each decade for passing yards a game.

Almost all of the top seasons by quarterbacks have come in recent years. Entering this decade, Dan Fouts held the record for passing yards a game over a season at 320.3, playing for the legendary Air Coryell Chargers team in 1982. That record was surpassed this decade nine times — five by Drew Brees alone.

More Yards, More Accuracy

Quarterbacks are not only passing more, they are passing better. Completion percentages and interception rates have improved every decade. The completion percentage for this decade was 62.2 percent, up from 59.8 percent in the 2000s. And interceptions are down as well, with just 2.6 percent of passes picked off in this decade, down from 3.2 percent.

2010s 2000s 1990s 1980s 1970s 1960s 1950s 1940s 62.2 59.8 57.2 55.6 52.1 51.7 48.6 45.0 Completion pct. 2.6 3.2 3.4 4.2 5.3 5.6 7.0 9.3 Interception pct. ’10s ’00s ’90s ’80s ’70s ’60s ’50s ’40s 62.2 59.8 57.2 55.6 52.1 51.7 48.6 45.0 Cmp. pct. 2.6 3.2 3.4 4.2 5.3 5.6 7.0 9.3 Int. pct.

The top five marks for completion percentage in a season with at least 250 attempts were set this decade (four by Brees). Eight of the 10 best interception percentages came this decade, as well as eight of the 10 best quarterback ratings.

The N.F.L. average quarterback rating this decade was 88, about eight points higher than it was just a decade ago.

AVERAGE QUARTERBACK RATING BY DECADE 87.9 80.7 77.0 74.3 69.7 65.3 59.2 47.6 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s AVERAGE QUARTERBACK RATING BY DECADE 87.9 80.7 77.0 74.3 69.7 65.3 59.2 47.6 ’40s ’50s ’60s ’70s ’80s ’90s ’00s ’10s

Perhaps the best way to understand the quality of the modern passer is to look at some of the weakest ones. This season’s worst completion percentage for a quarterback with at least 250 attempts was Josh Allen’s 58.8 percent. That would have been the best in the league as recently as 1967, when Johnny Unitas’s rate was also 58.8 percent.

The Ever-Changing Game

It was barely the same sport in the 1930s. Statistics are a little more unreliable from that decade, but the top passer of that era, Arnie Herber, put up only 6,189 passing yards on a 40.4 percent completion rate and threw an interception 9 percent of the time. Those numbers, which today would get a player laughed out of training camp, got Herber into the Hall of Fame.

Given the size and speed of today’s athletes, it is not surprising that players are better. But the quarterbacks’ rate of improvement has soared above that of other positions. Rule changes favoring quarterbacks and receivers as well as better designed offenses based on data analytics have been major contributors to that.

Even so, quarterbacks are throwing for more yards, and doing so more effectively, despite massively bigger defensive linemen and faster secondaries. And they are completing those passes despite getting sacked at about the same rate, or even a little more than in decades past.

Take a mediocre quarterback of today, and simply add a time machine, and he could rewrite the record books.