QUARTERBACK
The Golden Bears’ all-time best
Chase Garbers will be in his third season as the Bears’ full-time No. 1 quarterback, and his 14 career wins as a starter are the most by any returnee in the Pac-12 Conference. And yet, even with his 14-5 record in games where he starts and plays more than half the game, Garbers gets little love from the experts who rate the best in the conference. USC’s Kedon Slovis and Arizona State’s Jayden Daniels are typically considered the headliners, and the Cal senior is often an afterthought.
He wasn’t a candidate to make our list of Top-5 all-time Cal quarterbacks, and he has yet to write the final entries in his resume that will determine whether he even fits in among the Top 10.
Although he has been competent, his record, to a large degree, has been a function of Cal’s strong defense under coach Justin Wilcox. Compare that to the environment Jared Goff played in under Sonny Dykes, where the Bears were helpless on defense and Goff’s gaudy passing numbers added up to a three-year record of 14-23.
During the height of coach Jeff Tedford’s coaching reign, Nate Longshore (20-9 as a starter from 2005-09) and Kevin Riley (20-13 from 2008-10) became the only two quarterbacks in recent Cal history to accumulate at least 20 wins as starters.
Aaron Rodgers (2003-04) was 17-5 while Mike Pawlawski (1988-91) compiled a ledger of 17-6-1 as a starter. Both were obviously talented, but they also had strong supporting casts.
With seven victories this season — an ambitious but reasonable goal — Garbers will have 21 career wins, more than any Cal starting quarterback in a half-century. How will we judge him at that point?
Our ranking of the Top-5 Cal quarterbacks:
1. AARON RODGERS (2003-04)
Credentials: Where to start? Rodgers was a revelation in his two seasons at Cal, posting a 150.3 pass efficiency rating (using the college formula), with 43 touchdowns and just 13 interceptions. In 2004 he tied an NCAA record by completing 23 consecutive passes in a single game — against USC, no less — and led the Bears to a 10-2 record. In the NFL, his passer rating is the highest in history among players with at least five seasons. He has won a Super Bowl and last season claimed his third league MVP.
One more reason we picked him No. 1:
This isn’t really close. But if we needed another piece of evidence to secure Rodgers’ spot at the top, it was his superb two-week run as celebrity host of “Jeopardy!” Rodgers took the assignment seriously, paid homage to the late Alex Trebek, and seemed entirely capable of taking on the job full time.
2. STEVE BARTKOWSKI (1972-74)
Credentials: Bartkowski was good enough at Cal that future NFL draft pick Vince Ferragamo transferred to Nebraska. After passing for 2,580 yards and completing 56 percent of his attempts as a senior in 1974, Bartkowski’s big arm made him the No. 1 pick in a 1975 NFL draft that also included Randy White and Walter Payton. He had more interceptions than touchdowns in each of his first five seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, but Bartkowski was a Pro Bowl selection in 1980 and ’81 when he totaled 61 TDs (39 picks) and threw for more than 7,300 yards.
One more reason we picked him No. 2: A legit two-sport star, Bartkowski was an All-America first baseman in 1973 after batting .329 for the Bears.
3. JOE KAPP (1956-58)
Credentials: Kapp was far from an elite passer, as evidenced by his career totals of seven touchdown passes and 28 interceptions with the Golden Bears. But he also holds Cal’s record for career rushing yards by a quarterback and as a senior led the Bears to the Pacific Coast Conference title and a berth in the Rose Bowl. Cal hasn’t been back in the 62 seasons since then. NFL teams were so unimpressed that Kapp was an 18thround pick in the 1959 draft. He opted to play in Canada, where he led the B.C. Lions to consecutive Grey Cup appearances, winning the title in 1964. He finally made it to the NFL in 1967 and in ’69 he threw seven touchdowns in a game while leading the Minnesota Vikings to a Super Bowl.
One more reason we picked him No. 3:
Before winning his Big Game coaching debut with “The Play” in 1982, Kapp flexed his acting muscles alongside Burt Reynolds in “The Longest Yard” in 1974 and “Semi-Tough” in ’77.
4. JARED GOFF (2013-15)
Credentials: Goff arrived on campus from Marin County just as pass-happy Sonny Dykes took over as coach, and the pairing allowed Goff to almost entirely rewrite the Bears’ record book. He threw for 96 touchdowns and more than 12,000 yards in three seasons as a starter, including a Pac-12 record 43 TDs in 2015. The No. 1 pick in the 2016 NFL draft, Goff threw for 32 touchdowns and nearly 4,700 yards in his third season, helping the Los Angeles Rams to the Super Bowl. His efficiency slipped the past two seasons, and he was traded to the Detroit Lions.
One more reason we picked him No. 4: After going 0-7 as a rookie starter, Goff compiled a record of 42-20 the past four seasons.
5. CRAIG MORTON (1962-64)
Credentials: A starter for most of three seasons with the Bears, Morton was a first-team All-America pick as a senior when he passed for 2,121 yards and completed 60 percent of his attempts. He left Cal having set a Pac-8 record with 4,501 career passing yards. Picked No. 5 in the NFL draft by the Dallas Cowboys, Morton shared the starting job with Roger Staubach or Don Meredith for years but quarterbacked the team to a Super Bowl appearance after the 1970 season. In ’77 with Denver, he was voted the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year while leading the Broncos to the Super Bowl.
One more reason we picked him No. 5: On a 3-7 Cal team, Morton finished seventh in the 1964 Heisman Trophy voting, ahead of both Joe Namath and Gale Sayers.