It hasn't been a good decade-plus to be a Notre Dame quarterback in the NFL.
Each of the last 25 starts made by a former Fighting Irish QB has ended in defeat in the National Football League.
The latest was Sunday's valiant effort by Riley Leonard, who battled against the Houston Texans' fierce defense while throwing two touchdowns and running for another in a one-score loss.
It hasn't always been that close, though, and this streak is quite sad.
Leonard was making his first start, so he's worth just one out of the 25.
Ian Book also made just a lone NFL start, in 2021 for the Saints, so he has one on that list.
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Jimmy Clausen has four of the starts in the streak. He was 1-13 as a starter overall, with the last four of those defeats coming since the last Notre Dame win.
That last victory in the NFL was by Brady Quinn, who won in 2012 while quarterbacking the Kansas City Chiefs. He lost his four starts after that, though.
So that's four, plus four, plus one, plus one. That's 10. How are we getting 25?
Oh yeah, you can't forget DeShone Kizer.
Kizer went 0-15 as an NFL starting quarterback, all since Quinn's last win in the NFL.
That makes it 25.
Kizer's 15 losses all came in the winless 2017 season for the Cleveland Browns. The Browns also had Kevin Hogan (Stanford) start one game that year, and he lost, too.
So, well, not a great run for the Fighting Irish at the most important position in sports.
They'll be hoping C.J. Carr can end this drought, if Leonard doesn't do it first. But it won't happen until at least the 2026 NFL season.
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