Published October 20, 2026 11:49 AM
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford lost his fourth start of the season on Sunday. When he loses his fifth, he’ll reach a career milestone he’d prefer not to have.
Stafford has a career record of 122-122-1 as a starting quarterback. Those 122 losses are the second-most in NFL history, behind only Vinny Testaverde, who went 90-123-1. With another loss, Stafford will tie Testaverde for the most ever, and with two more losses, Stafford has the record all to himself.
Once Stafford breaks the record, it will be a long time before anyone else comes close. The next 10 quarterbacks on the career losses list are all retired: Eli Manning with 117, Drew Brees with 114, Brett Favre with 112, Philip Rivers with 109, Matt Ryan with 109, Fran Tarkenton with 109, Archie Manning with 101, Warren Moon with 101, Norm Snead with 100 and Kerry Collins with 99.
There are some great, Hall of Fame quarterbacks on that list. And that points to a paradox with the record for most quarterback losses: You have to be pretty good to get it. A terrible quarterback could never lost 100 games because a terrible quarterback gets cut long before he reaches 100 losses. Only quarterbacks who are good enough to start for many years have a chance to set the NFL record for career losses.
Stafford has been good enough to start for 18 years, playing on some bad Lions teams and going 74-90-1 during his first 12 seasons in the NFL, and then going 48-32 with the Rams. He’s losing more this year than anyone expected, and it’s likely that soon he’ll have lost more games than any quarterback, ever.