On Friday, I had a column run in the actual Sun newspaper discussing Steve McNair's chances for Canton. The bottom line is that despite the substantial individual achievements and hallmark courage that distinguish McNair's 13-year career, his election to Canton is likely to be an uphill battle.

Among the problems facing McNair's candidacy is that he never won a Super Bowl. If you go through the list of modern-era QBs in the the Hall of Fame, you will find the role call of quarterbacks who didn't lead a team to a Super Bowl or an NFL or AFL title to be surprisingly short.

It includes: Dan Marino, Dan Fouts, Warren Moon, Jim Kelly, Y.A. Tittle, Fran Tarkenton and Sonny Jurgensen.

A few of those guys went to multiple Supers Bowls and league championships -- Kelly, Tarkenton and Tittle -- and lost. In all cases, we're talking about careers with a lot of "wow factor." 

That McNair is in a small club of 30,000 passing yards and 3,500 rushing yards (Tarkenton and Steve Young) helps his case. But that one yard in the January 2000 Super Bowl where Tennessee WR Kevin Dyson came within a stride of tying the game against the Rams at the buzzer (left) could have a profound affect on McNair's Hall status. That drive started at the Titans' 12-yard line with less than two minutes to go. Had Dyson scored and the Titans gone on to beat St. Louis in OT, that drive at the end of regulation would be part of NFL lore (rather than Mike Jones' saving tackle) and McNair probably would have been the Super Bowl MVP.

Fair or not, that's just the type of coronating distinction that sways Hall of Fame electors. And if you don't believe that championships have a bearing on admission to the Hall just look at how long it took some of those 1970s era Minnesota Vikings to be elected compared to the ease with which the Steelers of the same era made it in. The difference was clearly in winning and losing the Big Game.

Steve McNair threw for 33,068 yards in 13 regular seasons and 10 playoff games. It's a shame that just one more yard could wind up being the difference in whether or not he's enshrined at Canton.

Photo credit:  Associated Press