Does Matthew Stafford still have to prove himself?

So the final question is simple; is Matthew Stafford an elite quarterback who is not given his due or is he an underachiever that Lions fans believe to be better than he actually is?

Last week as a good friend and myself were enjoying some Detroit Tigers baseball, he decided to bring up Stafford as we watched the Tigers bullpen implode. He took that moment to accuse me of being like the national pundits and dismissing what Stafford has accomplished because in a recent article I chose Bobby Layne over Stafford for the face of quarterbacking excellence in Detroit.

I then explained to him that Layne had led the Lions to a pair of championships and was on the bench for a third because of an injury. Does this mean he was a better quarterback than Stafford? Not necessarily.

Layne got the nod from me because he had actually won it all. Now we can say that part of that was the fact that Layne had championship teams surrounding him. Can we honestly say the same for Stafford? Not realistically.

Yet my decision was based completely on accomplishment. That wasn’t a knock against Stafford. That was kudos to a legendary quarterback for doing what he was supposed to do when surrounded with a team good enough to win it all.

In today’s NFL, Stafford could easily be considered one of the standard bearers of the position. With almost every game he becomes the youngest quarterback to pass for so many yards or touchdowns or whatever. Part of that is due to the inability of this team to ever field a competent ground game to help him out, but much of it is based solely on his own talent.

In the NFL quarterbacks are judged on winning. Despite the fact that no other position in any other sport is as dependent on their teammates as quarterbacks are for success, they are considered legends or losers by their teams record.

Next: Was the NFL’s ranking of Matthew Stafford fair?

Matthew Stafford is an elite quarterback who is also one of the only reasons this franchise has had any success over the last few seasons. Do he and Lions need to beat the better teams more often and start winning in the playoffs? Absolutely. Being contenders and winning championships will change everything.

Because only then will the national spotlight shine differently on Stafford and the Lions.