Dan Pompei

Whether the greatest quarterback of all up to this point was Joe Montana or Dan Marino or John Elway or Johnny Unitas or Otto Graham was really up to you. Or me.

It has been highly subjective debate for which there was no clear-cut answer.  But I think we all can agree the aforementioned five belong in the team photo.

And I think we also can all agree that at some point in the not too distant future, Tom Brady could end the debate.

The imagination need not be stretched too far to assume that Brady and the Patriots will go undefeated and win the Super Bowl. So if he does, he will have been the author of the greatest single season in NFL history by a quarterback, whether he is judged by individual or team accomplishments.

He also will have won four Super Bowls. The only modern era quarterbacks in his league in that department are Terry Bradshaw, who won four Super Bowls, Bart Starr, who won two Super Bowls and five NFL championships and Montana, who won four Super Bowls.

Bradshaw’s Steelers might have been the greatest assemblage of talent ever, as eight of his teammates have been inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And if the Steelers weren’t the best team ever, Starr’s Packers might have been. Starr shares space in Canton with nine inductees from those teams. Montana's 49ers set the template for today's passing offenses.

It is highly unlikely Brady’s Patriots will have anywhere near as many hall of famers. Randy Moss and Junior Seau probably are sure things, though Seau’s best years were in San Diego. Rodney Harrison, Adam Vinatieri and Richard Seymour would be possibilities.

So a larger share of the credit for the Patriots’ accomplishments probably will go to Brady, as well as coach Bill Belichick. Without either, the Patriots probably wouldn’t even be sniffing the playoffs.

It’s probably unwise to compare the career numbers of modern quarterbacks to their predecessors because of the way the game has changed. But Brady’s statistics do provide a valuable gauge when compared to the statistics of his contemporaries.

This has been an incredible year for top end quarterbacks, but Brady has been clearly better than Brett Favre, Tony Romo, Peyton Manning and the rest. He leads the NFL in all of the traditionally cited passing categories — yards, passer rating, touchdown passes, completion percentage and yards per attempt.

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The most impressive aspect of his play might be his ability to avoid mistakes. Even though he has a high yards per attempt and has completed more long passes than anyone, he’s still an excellent game manager. Only 1.2 percent of his passes have been picked off, which is the second best percentage in the NFL to David Garrard of the Jaguars.

If it’s coming through in the clutch matters, Brady is at the top of that list too. He has led the Patriots to victory when they have been tied or trailed in the fourth quarter 28 times, including four times this year. And he has been sharp in the red zone with a 110.1 passer rating this season.

Patriots pursue perfection Brady voted near-unanimous NFL MVP Opinion: Brady will end QB debate with title Special feature: Brady among all-time greats Opinion: Pats too good, focused to be denied Opinion: It's easier to upset Pats than Colts Celizic: Giants proved Patriots are beatable Compare 2007 Patriots with 1972 Dolphins Feature: Sports' best-ever regular seasons NBC Sports: Timeline of undefeated season iPredict: New England won’t win Super Bowl Opinion: 19-0 would make Pats best team ever Votes: Pats go 19-0?  |  Rooting for them? Gridiron Greats: Best NFL teams of all-time

Perhaps his most taken for granted asset is his durability. Like Favre and Manning, Brady always answers the bell. He has started 123 straight games for the Patriots and never has missed a start. His already is the fourth longest quarterback starting streak in NFL history.

The thing about Brady is he’s still young. At 30, he’s just rounding into the prime of his career. It’s very possible — maybe even likely — he’ll become an even better player and win more Super Bowls before he is ready to retire.

What we have observed thus far from Brady might only 60 percent of his career. Brady has won 76 of his first 100 regular season starts, which ties him with Roger Staubach for the most victories in a quarterback’s first 100 starts since the beginning of the Super Bowl era.

Even if Brady retires in February, the argument could be made that no one ever did it better.

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