How best to describe Christian Adolf “Sonny” Jurgensen III to someone unfamiliar with Washington football’s rich and complicated history?
55 years in Washington and a lifetime of memories
There will never be another quite like Sonny pic.twitter.com/fKslf9MVN0
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) February 6, 2026
Let’s start with affable, lovable and indomitable — because a simple Google search (and this AP writeup) will reveal Jurgensen was a 5-time Pro Bowler, led the NFL in passing yardage five times and still holds multiple Washington franchise passing records more than 50 years after his retirement.
But for a middle-aged man like me who never saw Sonny play in the NFL, he’s still a banner figure in Burgundy and Gold history. He’s almost Washington’s version of John Madden — an outstanding franchise legend who later became even more iconic as a broadcaster.
If you dust off an old VHS tape of the great Super Bowl runs of the 1980s and early 1990s, you’ll hear Sonny, Sam Huff and Frank Herzog on the radio broadcasts of Washington’s golden era of football. They were the soundtrack of those title runs and part of the fabric of the D.C. region’s love affair with the team.
“Everybody loved Frank Herzog, Sam Huff and Sonny Jurgensen — iconic and everyone is measured against them,” longtime CBS Sports host James Brown (a D.C. legend in his own right) told WTOP on Friday.
His soft-spoken, southern drawl further enhanced his trademark sense of humor often displayed on Channel 4’s legendary Redskins Report — a must-see discussion hosted by the late, great George Michael about the Burgundy and Gold on the eve of game day before the age of ESPN apps and the 24-hour news cycle. Young fans like me loved that Sonny was always the homer of the show, picking Washington to win virtually every game.
What a gift, given his remarkable playing career. Those who saw Sonny sling it call him one of the best pure passers in NFL history — a gunslinger ahead of his time in an era when the forward pass was still in its relative infancy and the road to ultimate victory was paved by great running backs.
“Today, the game is more offensively focused and it’s a passing attack with all of these young quarterbacks who are doing great things,” Brown said. “Sonny Jurgensen was as excellent as any of today’s young quarterbacks at a time when they were dominating and focusing on the run game.”
Brown cited Sonny’s famous behind-the-back pass in 1961, comparable to the on-field exploits of Patrick Mahomes.
“You can argue he’s as good a pure passer as anybody’s seen. Championships are won by teams, not by one player — if he had a defense, they probably would have won some championships in the ’60s,” Charley Casserly, the legendary former Washington general manager told WTOP.
As Casserly alluded to later in WTOP’s interview, one of the great “what-ifs” in Washington franchise history is how Sonny’s legacy would have formed had Vince Lombardi lasted more than one season with the Burgundy and Gold. In 1969, Sonny led the NFL in passing attempts, completions, completion percentage and passing yards and spoke glowingly of playing for the legendary Green Bay Packers coach for many years after his death in 1970.
With George Allen’s run-first, defense-oriented approach came the arrival of Billy Kilmer and the advent of a yearslong quarterback controversy in Washington.
Which brings to mind another “what-if” — were it not for Sonny’s injury in 1972, perhaps Washington stops the Dolphins from completing the first (and still only) undefeated season in NFL history. After all, Sonny completed a whopping 66.1% of his passes and the Burgundy and Gold went 4-0 in games he started that year.
Even still, Sonny’s greatness shined through. In his final season in 1974, while still splitting time with Kilmer, Sonny made only four starts but still threw for 1,185 yards and 11 touchdowns — and did it at the age of 40.
Like I said: affable, lovable and indomitable.
Rest in peace, Sonny — and thanks for the memories.
Source
Column: Sonny Jurgensen was the best QB I never (yet always) saw
