Dan Marino leaves Peyton Manning off Mount Rushmore of NFL QBs feat. Patrick Mahomes 

Peyton Manning routinely led some of the most explosive offenses during his run in the NFL. However, it was not enough for former Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino to elevate Manning into his Mount Rushmore of quarterbacks. Speaking to Sports Illustrated, Marino named five quarterbacks that would make his top five or top four list of all-time:

“To me, [Joe] Montana and [John] Elway, Jim Kelly—those guys, all those guys. Patrick Mahomes, he’s going to be considered one of the best ever, too. You got Tom Brady, you got a lot of guys. So, there’s a lot to pick from there.”

He had trouble deciding between Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes, but easily named Joe Montana, John Elway and Jim Kelly as his top choices. Of course, one may notice that Marino favored his contemporaries, listing three players who were retired by the 2000 season.

He didn't elaborate much on why he chose the players, but Super Bowls might have something to do with it. Elway took his team to five Super Bowls and won two. Joe Montana took his San Francisco 49ers to four Super Bowls and won each one. Jim Kelly led his Buffalo Bills to four Super Bowls.

Tom Brady went to 10 Super Bowls and won seven of them. Patrick Mahomes has been to four Super Bowls and won three of them with just one loss to Brady.

Peyton Manning, in turn, had four Super Bowl appearances with two wins. He won one championship with the Colts and one with the Broncos. He was the first starting quarterback to win a championship with two teams. However, Marino ranked Mahomes above him in addition to his contemporaries.

Patrick Mahomes' Super Bowl win over 49ers echoes Peyton Manning's win over Cam Newton

Patrick Mahomes at Super Bowl LVIII - San Francisco 49ers v Kansas City Chiefs

While Peyton Manning won his final championship on the doorstep of retirement, most agree that defense was the catalyst for the run to the Big Game in 2015. The defensive surge came one and two years after a league-leading offense in 2013 and 2014. Two years prior to winning the Big Game, Manning had thrown for 55 touchdowns, setting a new NFL record.

One year prior, his offense was ranked second in points per game at the league's top. However, in his final Super Bowl, the Denver Broncos' No Fly Zone reigned supreme at the top while No. 18 simply avoided the big mistake.

Mahomes, meanwhile, had an offense ranked first in points per game in 2022. This year, the offense was ranked 15th in points per game while the defense was ranked sixth in passing yards per game. Most agree the defense led the way for the Chiefs in 2023's playoff run.

The Broncos, following their defensive Super Bowl win, saw a decline and never returned to the Big Game. Patrick Mahomes just had his first defensive Super Bowl win.

Will the Kansas City Chiefs be able to do what Peyton Manning did not?