Most Playoff Wins by an NFL Quarterback: Tom Brady’s 35

The record for most playoff wins by an NFL quarterback belongs to Tom Brady, but Patrick Mahomes has already moved into second place.

Playoff wins carry a different weight than regular-season victories. Every postseason game is effectively a do-or-die contest, and advancing requires a quarterback to keep winning against teams that have also survived the regular season and earned their place in the tournament.

That makes the NFL’s career playoff-win record one of the clearest measures of sustained postseason success.

And the record belongs to Tom Brady.

Brady finished his NFL career with 35 playoff victories, a total that remains comfortably ahead of every other quarterback in league history. He went 35-13 across 48 postseason games with the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, winning seven Super Bowls and reaching the championship game 10 times. Guinness World Records recognizes his 35 victories as the career record for an NFL starting quarterback.

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The gap is particularly striking because Patrick Mahomes, the active quarterback closest to Brady, has 17 playoff wins through the 2025 season. Mahomes has already moved past Joe Montana’s 16, but Brady remains 18 victories ahead.

That enormous gap is what makes most playoff wins by an NFL quarterback such a fascinating record to examine.

Tom Brady Owns the Record With 35 Playoff Wins

Tom Brady’s postseason résumé is built around two extraordinarily productive chapters.

He won 30 playoff games with the New England Patriots and another five with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

His New England career included nine Super Bowl appearances and six championships. After leaving the Patriots, Brady joined Tampa Bay and immediately helped the Buccaneers win Super Bowl LV during the 2020 season.

He returned to the playoffs with Tampa Bay in 2021 and played his final postseason game after the 2022 regular season.

Brady’s final playoff record was:

• 35 wins
• 13 losses
• 48 playoff games
• 10 Super Bowl appearances
• 7 Super Bowl victories

The Patriots Hall of Fame lists Brady’s 35 postseason victories, 48 playoff games and 13 postseason losses among his major career records.

The 35 wins did not come from one extraordinary postseason run. They accumulated over two decades, beginning with New England’s 2001 playoff run and continuing through Tampa Bay’s 2022 season.

That longevity is a crucial part of the record.

The Most Playoff Wins by an NFL Quarterback: All-Time Leaderboard

Through the 2025 season and the 2026 postseason, the leading quarterbacks by career playoff wins are:

The most important current figure is Mahomes’ 17 wins. Kansas City did not reach the 2026 playoffs, so his career total did not change during the most recent postseason. Current statistical databases continue to list Brady first with 35 and Mahomes second with 17.

Patrick Mahomes Has Moved Into Second Place

Patrick Mahomes is now the closest active challenger to Brady’s record.

The Chiefs quarterback entered the NFL in 2017 but did not become Kansas City’s full-time starter until the 2018 season. Since then, the Chiefs have repeatedly returned to the postseason.

Mahomes has accumulated 17 playoff victories in 21 postseason games, giving him a 17-4 postseason record through the 2025 season.

His 17 wins moved him past Joe Montana’s career total of 16.

Montana needed 23 postseason games to record his 16 victories, while Mahomes reached 17 victories in 21 playoff appearances. The difference illustrates just how frequently Kansas City has advanced during the Mahomes era.

Mahomes’ postseason record also includes three Super Bowl victories, making his playoff résumé unusually productive despite being much shorter than Brady’s.

The comparison is therefore less about where Mahomes stands today and more about how many postseason opportunities he can accumulate over the remainder of his career.

Why Mahomes Is the Main Name in the Brady Record Conversation

There is an obvious reason Mahomes is the quarterback most frequently mentioned when discussing Brady’s playoff-win record.

Age and opportunity.

Brady accumulated 35 wins over a 23-season career. Mahomes reached 17 wins much earlier in his career and remains an active quarterback.

But the gap is still substantial.

Mahomes would need 19 additional playoff victories to surpass Brady.

That would require sustained postseason success over many more seasons. Even quarterbacks who reach multiple conference championship games rarely accumulate playoff victories at the rate required to approach Brady’s career total.

The Chiefs’ 2026 absence from the postseason also demonstrates an important point: playoff wins can only be accumulated when a team qualifies for the tournament, and even qualifying does not guarantee multiple victories.

Mahomes’ current total therefore represents an extraordinary start, but Brady’s record remains a long-distance target.

Joe Montana’s 16 Playoff Wins

Before Brady established the modern record, Joe Montana was one of the defining names in postseason quarterback history.

Montana finished with 16 playoff wins and a 16-7 record.

His postseason résumé was built primarily with the San Francisco 49ers, although he also played playoff games with the Kansas City Chiefs late in his career.

Montana won four Super Bowls with San Francisco and became known for a series of memorable postseason performances.

His 16 victories eventually became the benchmark Brady and later Mahomes passed.

For many years, reaching 16 playoff wins was itself a remarkable achievement. Mahomes’ rapid rise past that figure has changed the historical context, but Montana remains third on the career list.

Terry Bradshaw and the Steelers Dynasty

Terry Bradshaw recorded 14 playoff wins during his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

His postseason record was 14-5, and four of those victories came in Super Bowls.

Bradshaw’s playoff résumé was closely connected to Pittsburgh’s dominant teams of the 1970s. The Steelers won four Super Bowls during a six-season period, giving Bradshaw multiple opportunities to accumulate postseason victories.

He also won two Super Bowl MVP awards.

Bradshaw’s 14 playoff wins remain tied for the fourth-highest total among quarterbacks, alongside John Elway, Peyton Manning and Steve Young.

John Elway: 14 Playoff Wins and Five Super Bowl Starts

John Elway also finished with 14 playoff victories.

The Denver Broncos quarterback appeared in five Super Bowls, winning the final two of his career.

Elway’s playoff record was 14-7.

His career illustrates why playoff wins alone do not tell the complete story of a quarterback’s postseason career. Elway reached the Super Bowl three times before finally winning a championship, while some quarterbacks with fewer appearances accumulated more victories in shorter periods.

His five Super Bowl starts remain one of the highest totals in NFL history, behind Brady’s 10.

Peyton Manning: 14 Playoff Wins Across Two Teams

Peyton Manning also finished with 14 postseason victories, but his path was different from Brady’s.

Manning played postseason football with both the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos.

He won two Super Bowls, one with each franchise, and finished his career with a 14-13 postseason record.

His total demonstrates another reality of playoff statistics: a quarterback can be highly successful over a long career without producing an exceptionally high playoff winning percentage.

Manning’s 27 postseason games gave him significantly more playoff opportunities than most quarterbacks, but his 14 victories remain well below Brady’s 35.

Steve Young’s 14 Playoff Wins

Steve Young also finished with 14 playoff victories.

Young spent most of his career with the San Francisco 49ers and eventually succeeded Joe Montana as the team’s starting quarterback.

His most important postseason season came in 1994, when the 49ers won Super Bowl XXIX.

Young threw six touchdown passes in San Francisco’s 49-26 victory over the San Diego Chargers and earned Super Bowl MVP honors.

His 14 career playoff wins place him alongside Bradshaw, Elway and Manning.

Ben Roethlisberger and Brett Favre

Two more quarterbacks reached 13 playoff victories: Ben Roethlisberger and Brett Favre.

Roethlisberger spent his entire career with the Pittsburgh Steelers and won two Super Bowls. He finished with a 13-10 postseason record.

Favre’s postseason career included playoff appearances with the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings. He finished with 13 victories and 11 losses.

Both quarterbacks reached multiple conference championship games and Super Bowls, but neither came close to Brady’s career total.

Aaron Rodgers Has 12 Playoff Wins

Aaron Rodgers finished his Green Bay Packers career with a 10-9 postseason record and later added another playoff victory with the New York Jets, bringing his career total to 12.

That places Rodgers just outside the top nine of the all-time quarterback leaderboard.

Rodgers won Super Bowl XLV with Green Bay and was named Super Bowl MVP after throwing for 304 yards and three touchdowns in the Packers’ 31-25 victory over Pittsburgh.

His 12 playoff victories illustrate the difficulty of building a huge postseason total even for a quarterback who consistently performed at a high level during the regular season.

Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach

The Dallas Cowboys have two quarterbacks in the top 12.

Troy Aikman finished with 11 playoff victories and won three Super Bowls during the Cowboys’ championship run of the 1990s.

Roger Staubach also finished with 11 playoff wins and won two Super Bowls with Dallas.

Aikman’s postseason record was 11-5, while Staubach finished 11-6.

Both quarterbacks benefited from playing for championship-caliber Dallas teams, but their totals remain less than one-third of Brady’s career number.

Why Playoff Wins Are Different From Regular-Season Wins

A quarterback can accumulate regular-season victories simply by playing for a strong team over many seasons.

Playoff victories are different.

The postseason eliminates teams every week.

A quarterback can play well and still lose because of a defensive breakdown, missed field goal, turnover, special-teams mistake or dominant performance by the opposing team.

There is also a much smaller margin for recovery.

A regular-season loss can be followed by another game the next week. A playoff loss ends the season.

That makes sustained playoff success particularly difficult.

Brady’s 35 wins are therefore not simply the product of playing many seasons. They also reflect the fact that his teams repeatedly advanced through multiple rounds.

The Importance of Playoff Opportunities

The number of playoff games a quarterback plays has a direct relationship with how many playoff wins he can potentially accumulate.

Brady holds the NFL record with 48 postseason appearances, according to Guinness World Records. His career postseason record was 35-13.

That total gave him an enormous number of opportunities to collect victories.

Mahomes currently has 21 postseason games, while Montana played 23.

The comparison helps explain the size of Brady’s lead.

Brady not only reached the playoffs frequently; he repeatedly advanced beyond the opening round. His 10 Super Bowl appearances are another indication of how often his teams played deep into January and February.

Brady’s Record Is Built on Longevity and Deep Runs

There are two components to Brady’s playoff-win record.

The first is longevity.

Brady played in the NFL from 2000 through the 2022 season and reached the postseason across 20 seasons. The Patriots Hall of Fame lists his postseason appearance record at 20 seasons.

The second is deep playoff advancement.

Winning one postseason game gives a quarterback one playoff victory.

Winning three or four games in a postseason can dramatically increase the career total.

Brady repeatedly reached conference championship games and Super Bowls, creating opportunities that most quarterbacks never receive.

His career included 14 conference championship appearances, another NFL postseason record.

That combination of longevity and repeated deep runs is the central reason the record reached 35.

The Gap Between Brady and Mahomes

The simplest way to understand Brady’s record is to look at the gap.

Brady: 35

Mahomes: 17

Difference: 18 wins

Brady has more than twice Mahomes’ current total.

Mahomes has already passed Montana and moved into second place, but he still needs another 18 playoff victories just to equal Brady.

To move beyond Brady, he would need 19.

That is a substantial number because every playoff victory requires the Chiefs to first qualify for the postseason and then win a game against another playoff team.

Even successful quarterbacks experience seasons without a playoff victory.

Playoff Winning Percentage Adds Another Dimension

Career playoff wins are not the same thing as playoff winning percentage.

Brady’s 35-13 record gives him a postseason winning percentage of approximately 72.9%.

Mahomes’ 17-4 record is approximately 81.0%.

Joe Montana’s 16-7 record is approximately 69.6%.

That distinction matters.

Mahomes currently has a higher playoff winning percentage than Brady, but Brady has accumulated vastly more total victories because he played many more postseason games.

It demonstrates why no single statistic fully describes postseason performance.

Wins measure total advancement. Winning percentage measures efficiency across games played. Neither number, by itself, explains every aspect of a quarterback’s playoff career.

Brady’s Other Major Postseason Records

The playoff-win record is only one part of Brady’s postseason résumé.

He also holds the NFL records for:

• 48 playoff games
• 35 playoff wins
• 1,200 playoff completions
• 13,400 playoff passing yards
• 88 playoff touchdown passes
• 14 playoff game-winning drives
• 9 fourth-quarter playoff comebacks
• 10 Super Bowl appearances
• 7 Super Bowl victories

The Patriots Hall of Fame lists these among Brady’s postseason records.

That collection of records helps put the 35-win mark into context.

Brady did not simply accumulate playoff wins while producing limited passing statistics. He also accumulated the largest postseason passing totals in league history because of how frequently he reached the playoffs and continued advancing.

Can Anyone Eventually Break 35?

The answer depends largely on career length and postseason consistency.

Mahomes is the obvious active quarterback to watch because he has already reached 17 wins and has done so in only 21 playoff games.

But reaching 35 would require him to add 18 more victories just to tie Brady.

That could require many additional playoff appearances.

A quarterback who wins two playoff games per season would need nine more seasons to add 18 victories. Even that hypothetical pace would require regular postseason qualification and sustained advancement.

There is also no guarantee that a quarterback will maintain the same organization, coaching staff, roster quality or level of performance for an entire career.

That is why Brady’s record remains so difficult to approach.

Why Team Success Matters

Quarterback playoff wins are individual statistics attached to team outcomes.

A quarterback cannot win a playoff game alone.

Offensive line play, defensive performance, special teams, coaching, roster construction and injury luck all influence whether a team advances.

Brady’s record therefore reflects both his individual career and the sustained success of the organizations for which he played.

The Patriots reached the postseason repeatedly during Brady’s New England career, while Tampa Bay assembled a championship roster around him in 2020.

Mahomes has benefited from similar organizational stability in Kansas City, particularly with head coach Andy Reid and a team structure that has repeatedly produced postseason appearances.

The quarterback receives the win in the statistical record, but the result belongs to the entire team.

The Bottom Line

The record for most playoff wins by an NFL quarterback belongs to Tom Brady with 35 victories, and the scale of the record is what makes it so difficult to approach.

Brady finished his career 35-13 in the postseason across 48 playoff games, with 10 Super Bowl appearances and seven championships.

Patrick Mahomes is now the closest active quarterback, with 17 playoff wins through the 2025 season. Joe Montana follows with 16, while Terry Bradshaw, John Elway, Peyton Manning and Steve Young each finished with 14.

The difference between Brady and the rest of the leaderboard ultimately comes down to two things: longevity and repeated deep postseason runs.

Mahomes has already established himself near the top of the list at an unusually early stage of his career. But Brady’s 35 wins remain a formidable benchmark.

For now, the NFL’s postseason record book still has a clear name at the top: Tom Brady, 35 playoff wins.

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