Is a Mike Glennon Jim Harbaugh comparison realistic? Truthfully the two players are nothing alike in terms of style. Back in the late 1980s and early ’90s the former Chicago Bears quarterback was known for his fiery attitude and considerable mobility. Glennon is a bit more calculating and calm with a classic stay-in-the-pocket style. Not to mention some freakish height.
So how could the two draw any sort of likeness to each other? Well it came via an intriguing experiment by NFL.com expert Elliott Harrison. He wanted to see how modern quarterbacks of today stacked up against their counterparts of 25 years ago. Is Glennon a superior player to what Harbaugh was back in 1992 for the Bears?
The system used to help answer that question is centered around something called the Quarterback Era Adjustment. It’s a system devised to help determine what the numbers of QBs back in the ’90s would look like today. Here’s an explanation for how it works.
“With the help of NFL.com researchers Mark Dulgerian and Jack Andrade, we multiplied 2016 total passing figures by 87.5 percent (seven-eighths) to reflect the jump in teams from 28 in 1992 to 32 now. Next, we took the percentage differences in each category and applied them to the older quarterbacks’ ’92 stat lines. Not perfect, but it at least helped account for all the new rules and philosophical changes that have bloated quarterback stats in the current era.”
It’s an interesting look into how much the rules have changed and whether it’s given rise to superior play under center. Can the Bears expect good things from Glennon?
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Mike Glennon Jim Harbaugh comparison is somewhat murky
In the end Harbaugh is given the slight edge over Glennon. However, it’s not because of simple physical superiority. The fact is Glennon’s numbers hold up well but he doesn’t have near the experience Harbaugh did by 1992 when he entered his third year as starter.
“It’s the highly paid quarterback who’s hardly started versus the highly paid college coach whose NFL tenure was too short. What an odd pairing. Jim Harbaugh was OK in 1992, throwing one more touchdown than interception in a season that saw Mike Ditka’s Bears fall to 5-11 — though his era-adjusted numbers (17:8 TD-to-INT ratio) look much better.
For the record, Harbaugh did start in all five wins while losing only eight. He also led Chicago to the postseason in both 1990 and 1991, while making the Pro Bowl in 1995 for the Colts. Although Mike Glennon’s career statistics are superior to Harbaugh’s, they represent a much smaller sample size. The tall, lanky quarterback has only started 18 career games and zero the last two years.”
In other words Glennon has proven himself more productive over the course of his time as a starter than Harbaugh did. He just didn’t have the teams around him to win more. Don’t forget that for all his individual success, Harbaugh inherited the last of those great 1980s Bears teams. They carried him through most of his success in Chicago. If Glennon gets his legitimate shot in 2017, he may end up surpassing any statistical year Harbaugh had.
