Sonny Jurgensen, the Hall of Fame quarterback, has recently passed away at the age of 91, leading to a significant surge in search interest. As a prominent figure in American football history, Jurgensen’s death has resonated widely among fans, journalists, and sports organizations, driving a notable increase in online searches.
The Philadelphia Eagles, one of Jurgensen’s former teams, publicly expressed their condolences, further amplifying the news of his passing. Their acknowledgment of his legacy likely prompted many fans and sports enthusiasts to seek more information about his life and career, contributing to the heightened search volume.
Additionally, a report from goduke.com emphasized his status as a former All-American and Pro Football Hall of Famer, framing his legacy within the context of college football and professional achievements. This combination of factors has created a spike in discussions around Jurgensen’s impact on the sport, compelling many to search for details regarding his contributions and the circumstances surrounding his death.
Watch the Moment
Internet Reacts
D
RIP. It’s a testament to his skill that he’s a guy from the pre Super Bowl era that still gets name dropped and remembered today.
R
He gets referenced with good reason. You ever seen that footage of him at the tail end of his career with the beer gut, just slinging behind the back deep throws?
T
D.C. legend. Regardless of which era of football you subscribed to around here, few people, if any, were carried in such high regard. I miss hearing his voice already.
R
Fuck you Larry Michael.
A
What did he do?
R
Exist.
A
If you have to ask, you’ll never know.
S
Yup, Sonny and George Michael
R
Not the I got your sex George. ETA: Nice username.
A
He’s always in the conversation for the best pure passer of all time. The guy could throw bullets. He was just on a lot of bad teams before Lombardi and George Allen came in his life. His only championship came as a backup in 1960 with Philly.
C
An NFL scout once said “In terms of throwing a football, Sonny was second only to God, and Im not sure God threw the deep out as well as Sonny.” He probably had the best arm of any QB prior to the 1983 draft. He could throw from every angle, or behind his back. He would probably rank even higher on all time lists if he had won a Super Bowl in Washington. He might have done so if 1. Vince Lombardi hadn’t passed away from cancer at age 59 2. He hadn’t suffered two major injuries under George Allen (broken leg and torn Achilles) 3. Allen didn’t prefer Billy Kilmer for some reason.
B
The only pre-’83 QBs with arm talent on Sonny’s level were Joe Namath and Bert Jones, but Sonny was more accurate than Namath, and Jones had injuries that cut his career short. Sonny was a special player.
M
Belichick saw Jones and said it was the greatest arm talent he’s seen. There were rumors of 80 air yards passes Jones did in college practices. Brett the scam artist had the same rumors but you could actually see some of that. It’s stupid how insane those guys, Jeff George and the current crop of Allen, Maye, Herbert and crew are. The arm should not throw like that but it does.
A
I started watching football the year after Sonny retired, and Bert Jones was always on TV where I lived, and honestly I’d put him up against anyone from that era (Stabler, Bradshaw, Tarkenton, Staubach). He was always fun to watch even for a 8-9 year old kid.
T
Patriots Legend Joe Milton also can absolutely chuck it. Just uhhh not always where you want it.
C
Bert Jones was so freaking good. And the least fumble-prone QB of all time, unless someone in the last decade’s surpassed him.
B
Unrelated to the more serious topic, but sportswriters and just people in general had such banger quotes in past decades, idk what changed. Probably declining literacy rates
C
Sportswriters used to *write*. People like Ring Lardner and Grantland Rice. Back in the day, some people went to work for newspapers just so they could write, and they wrote books on the side. A lot of them found their way to the sports pages, where stodgy reporting wasn’t considered especially important. I think some modern journalists can write, like Joe Posnanski. But it sure as heck isn’t a job requirement anymore. The internet destroyed newspapers, and replaced them with a deluge of nonsense. I’m sure the good writers are out there, but it is very hard to find them.
B
Yeah . The sportswriters really added something to sports back then. Red Grange or any star from the 1920s wouldn’t be quite as intriguing to me without Grantland Rice’s elegant, poetic prose. They wrote like they wanted sports to mean something and they truly cared. Maybe those values disappeared somewhere along the line but I also think most people nowadays have lost the ability to write like that due to the tech focused world we live in.
R
I likes Billy!
J
Damn. What a loss. Even if you aren’t a fan of Washington, Sonny Jurgensen was such a legend. He had a personality, an attitude, and a demeanor that was special. He did a lot for the league and the sport. He’ll be missed, but his legacy will always be one of a kind. RIP
T
They just don’t make QBs who look like [55 year old longshoremen](https://www.fineartstorehouse.com/p/629/portrait-sonny-jurgensen-39041043.jpg.webp) anymore
S
I love it when you look up photos like this and it says shit like ‘Jurgensen, pictured here at age 24’
T
Bradshaw is the one that always gets me: going bald as young as he did was unfortunate.
A
Terry Bradshaw is the Larry David of the NFL in that regard.
R
Forgot who said, but Bradshaw is so dumb he couldn’t spell CAT if you gave him the C, A, and the T.
U
Hollywood Henderson of the Cowboys.
A
The guy so blessed he won the lottery twice.
G
As a kid watching FOX games, I thought he was a deflated relative of Hulk Hogan with that hair.
T
Cigarettes, no sunscreen, and dehydration lol
N
Andrew Luck could’ve brought it back if he stuck around long enough
S
He looks like he drinks a beer with a raw egg every morning
T
The man was smoking a cigar when they retired his jersey a few years ago, in a stadium in which they don’t allow you to smoke. He was always one of a kind, and if you were lucky enough to be in the DC area in the ’60s, you had both Sonny and Unitas to watch on TV. A beautiful time.
D
When you make it to a certain age, your level of DGAF goes waaaay up, lol.
T
We loved it. I think he got a bigger cheer in the stadium when we realized he was smoking in the suite
P
My seats for 20 plus years before the moved the radio booth were 2 rows in front of it. You would smell the cigar the entire game. Was always nice to talk to when I was a teenager.
7
He also won a championship with the Eagles
R
We forgive him his sins.
M
Damn Lombardi said he was possibly the best QB he ever coached. Which is crazy considering the guy he had in Green Bay
T
And it was only for one year while battling cancer
J
And one thing Sonny loved about Lombardi was that he was the only coach he ever had that never got on him about his weight, haha.
R
Jurgensen was a better talent than Starr. Starr was the perfect fit for Green Bay’s run-dominated offense (today we would probably call him a Game Manager even if he was more than that), but Jurgensen’s arm talent is unparalleled for that era
M
I think even Lombardi viewed him as a game manager. I believe Lombardi tried hard to trade for Don Meredith like multiple times but couldn’t get it done
B
Oof, the day after the In Memoriam reel too.
R
He’ll be on next years
H
Never saw him play, but listened to him on the radio pretty much every Sunday in the 80s/90s. We would turn the volume off on the tv and up on the radio. I miss his banter with Sam huff
R
Eat a dick Larry Michael. Piece of shit
E
Yeah I’m also a generation or two too young to have seen him play but I always loved watching him on NBC with George Michael talking Redskins. The team was always so bad with not a lot of players to like so many seasons it felt like George and Sonny were the guys that kept me closest to the team. RIP Sonny and HTTR!
L
Most of my family, and many coworkers tradition as well. The TV broadcast team was nothing compared to Sonny Sam and Frank
T
Hail to the Redskins Sonny! May he rest in peace
Additional Sources:
Philadelphia Eagles – Eagles mourn the loss of Hall of Fame QB Sonny Jurgensen
goduke.com – Former All-American and Pro Football Hall of Famer Sonny Jurgensen Passes Away
