Yesterday, I looked at the players with the most yards from scrimmage in a season among players who had just one-game seasons. Today, let’s do the same but for quarterbacks.  The table below shows all players with at least 150 passing yards, and is sorted by AY/A:

The Shaun Hill game at the top of the list was a very memorable one. With the Lions trailing by 7 with 1:32 to go, Matthew Stafford threw an interception against Tennessee, which was returned for a touchdown. That put the Titans up by 14 with 1:12 to go, and since Stafford tweaked his hamstring trying to make a tackle on the return, Detroit sent in Shaun Hill… because, ya know, the the Lions were down 14 with 1:12 to go and the ball at their own 20.

Hill responded with a 9-yard pass to Joique Bell, a 20-yard pass to Calvin Johnson, a 12-yard pass to Bell, a 22-yard pass to Johnson, a 10-yard pas to Bell, and — following a penalty — a 3-yard touchdown pass to Johnson with 20 seconds left. Hill went 6/8 for 76 yards and a touchdown in 58 seconds. The Lions then recovered the onside kick, and with 6 seconds left, Hill found Titus Young for a 46-yard Hail Mary as time expired. Unfortunately, the Lions lost in overtime — with Hill being stuffed on a QB sneak on 4th-and-1 — but you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better season that lasted three drives and just over 5 minutes.

Don Horn is on the list for his work in relief in the 1968 season finale for the Packers. Subbing for an injured Zeke Bratkowski — who was himself subbing for an injured Bart Starr — the conditions were not exactly well-suited for a breakout performance:

The Packers went 15 yards the wrong way on the first series, and Horn called two wrong formations on their second possession.

On the third series, Bears defensive tackle Dick Evey broke Horn’s nose.

“Vernon Biever (Packer team photographer) took a picture of Evey smacking me right in the face, with my head snapping back, his fist coming right up under my face mask,” Horn said.

“I had a single bar, but after that, I went to a double bar. I have that picture on my wall. I call it my vanity picture.”

Horn went 10/16 for 187 yards and two touchdowns in the win over the Bears. A year later, he had one of the great games in Green Bay history in the season finale, throwing for 410 yards and five touchdowns in a win over the Cardinals.

More indicative of future performance was what Drew Brees did in 2001. As a rookie, Brees sat behind Doug Flutie, but in a game in November against the Chiefs, Flutie was knocked out with a concussion. Brees came in and led the Chargers on four straight scoring drives, including a touchdown pass to Freddie Jones to take the lead.

Perhaps the most memorable game referenced on the list is the one started by Todd Marinovich for the 1991 Raiders. Eight years before Doug Flutie went 10-5 for the Bills and then Rob Johnson wowed in the season finale, ^[1]Johnson played in two games that year, so his 1999 season doesn’t make the list. the Raiders went 9-6 behind Jay Schroeder. Marinovich, the heavily-hyped first roun quarterback of the Raiders, took his first NFL snap in the season finale against the Chiefs.

With Schroeder hurt, Marinovich jumped Vince Evans on the depth chart to start the season finale. Beforehand, both teams knew a rematch was going to take place the following week in the playoffs, but this game would decide home field. Marinovich threw 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, but the Raiders lost by six points; the next week, in Kansas City in the postseason, he threw 0 touchdowns and 4 interceptions, and the Raiders lost by four points.