Most controversial NFL MVP winners of all-time
What's an NFL news cycle, dormant as it may be, without a little controversy?
Even with no games on the docket, as the countdown to Super Bowl LVI reaches its final stages, debate still dominates, as some have questioned the decision to bestow Aaron Rodgers with the league's MVP award over the retiring Tom Brady. It's Rodgers' second straight MVP Award, one earned in the wake of considerable controversy that has generated polarizing reactions in the football world and beyond.
Rodgers, however, is far from the first MVP whose status, as such, has been up for debate.
Who holds the NFL's most controversial MVP awards?
Paul Hornung catches a 44 yard bomb.
#Packers
https://t.co/jmggDSc7l6
-1961: RB Paul Hornung, Green Bay
A kicker winning MVP? Yes, we'll have something to say about such a concept later, but it probably should've happened during one of the last pre-merger NFL seasons. Granted, George Blanda did a little more in the passing game (complementing his passing duties with antics with both the kicking and blocking units as well), but the best year of a long, long NFL career (3,330 yards and 36 touchdowns) went by the wayside, instead of Hornung's work with the future league champions.
@Theismann7 Peyton gets Mark Moseley, the NFL's only ever MVP kicker, back into the swing of straight-leg kicking in the nation's capital. 👞 @Theismann7
Stream Peyton's Places now, only on @espn+ https://t.co/XWtCLHemcF
-1982: K Mark Moseley, Washington
The already easily-combustible world of NFL Twitter would've likely gone nuclear in 1982. Not only were seven weeks erased from the strike-shortened season, but an exclusive kicker earned the MVP trophy for the first (and likely only) time. Mark Moseley was the responsible party, working with a championship effort in Washington. A then-record 23 consecutive triple conversions was likely the deciding factor behind his historic hoist, one that beat out Dan Fouts' league-leading marks of 2,883 yards and 17 touchdown passes in San Diego. Though Moseley struggled in the postseason (missing four triples in the Redskins' wins over Detroit, Minnesota, and Dallas), he, nonetheless, capped off his season with a Super Bowl ring, as Washington topped Miami 27-17.
January 28, 1990: Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, and the 49ers rout John Elway and the Broncos in Super Bowl XXIV. https://t.co/0BVC5yoJgS
-1987: QB John Elway, Denver
In this day and age of amplified offense, one could almost look at Jerry Rice's 23 touchdowns with a passing glance. That's exactly what voters in the more defensively responsible 1987 campaign did, as the passing antics of Elway were far more valued. Alas, not much has changed in the grand scheme of things...only four NFL MVPs in the new century aren't quarterbacks, and none of them are receivers. Rice did take his revenge against Elway and the Broncos two seasons later, as they earned a 55-10 victory in Super Bowl XXIV, the most one-sided Super Sunday in game history.
Randall Cunningham
#Eagles https://t.co/qyCU6hD52N
-1990: QB Joe Montana, San Francisco
Brady is far from the first arguable "GOAT" to be immersed in an NFL MVP controversy, though this one was trapped on the other side. Further showcasing the voters' preference for pocket passers, Montana's aerial antics rendered the league's first elite rushing quarterback almost null and void. 1990 saw the rise of Randall Cunningham in Philadelphia, who could beat his opponents both through the air and on the ground. Alas, any mere strong effort from Montana, whose San Francisco dynasty was working through its final stages of dominance, had to be rewarded, orso the powers that be thought.
(via @nflthrowback).@BarrySanders’ 1997 season was magical ✨ (via @nflthrowback)
🦁 2,053 rushing yards
🦁 6.1 yards per carry
🦁 14 straight 100-yard games (NFL record)
🦁 1997 NFL Co-MVP (Brett Favre) https://t.co/M8UeZaIHHC
-1997: QB Brett Favre, Green Bay/RB Barry Sanders, Detroit
Technically speaking, there were no snubs when it came to the 1997 MVP Award: Favre and Sanders tore up the NFC Central in their respective fields, and the title was, thus, shared for the first time in its history. However, many questioned why Sanders, at the height of his rushing powers, didn't win the award outright, especially considering that the 9-7 Lions likely wouldn't have made the playoffs without his services. Sanders was also historic in the sense that he put up a league-record 14 straight games with, at least, 100 yards and also became only the third member of the 2,000-yard rushing club. The de facto loss of the title was made all the more bitter by the fact that the campaign became his penultimate NFL season, as he retired in 1998.