One year after coming out of nowhere and leading his team to a Super Bowl championship, Rams quarterback Kurt Warner has us all talking again. Last season, the former Arena Football League star took over the starting job late in the summer, threw 41 touchdowns (third most in a season in NFL history) and won league and Super Bowl XXXIV Most Valuable Player honors.

This year, Warner may be on his way to obliterating the NFL record for passing yards in a season (5,084) set by Miami's Dan Marino in 1984. After three weeks, the St. Louis signal-caller has thrown for an amazing 1,221 yards, far ahead of Marino's numbers (841) after three games in '84. And despite a 3-0 start for the defending champions, their contests (41-36, 37-34 and 41-24) look like true Arena Football scores thanks to a defensive unit that has been extremely porous.

Still, do all of those passing yards add up to a championship? Take a look at the Top 10 performances in NFL history in terms of passing yards by a player in a season, and where their teams wound up by year's end. Only Marino in 1984 made it as far as the Big Game, and the Dolphins were blown out by the 49ers, 38-16, in Super Bowl XIX.

Player	Team	Year	Yards	Team result
Dan Marino	Miami	1984	5,084	Lost Super Bowl XIX
Dan Fouts	San Diego	1981	4,802	Lost AFC Championship game
Dan Marino	Miami	1986	4,746	Did not make playoffs
Dan Fouts	San Diego	1980	4,715	Lost AFC Championship game
Warren Moon	Houston	1991	4,690	Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
Warren Moon	Houston	1990	4,689	Lost AFC Wild Card Game
Neil Lomax	St. Louis	1984	4,614	Did not make playoffs
Drew Bledsoe	New England	1994	4,555	Lost AFC Wild Card Game
Lynn Dickey	Green Bay	1983	4,458	Did not make playoffs
Dan Marino	Miami	1994	4,453	Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs

Many times, there's a reason quarterbacks are throwing for all of those yards, due mainly to the fact that they don't have a defense to support their cause. A look at the aforementioned 10 teams in terms of total yards allowed per game and their defensive ranks those seasons clearly shows this.

Team	Year	YPG allowed	Def. Ranking
Miami	1984	338.8	19th
San Diego	1981	383.5	27th
Miami	1986	378.1	26th (t)
San Diego	1980	293.2	6th
Houston	1990	289.7	11th
Houston	1990	289.7	11th
St. Louis	1984	318.4	8th
New England	1994	325.4	18th
Green Bay	1983	400.2	28th
Miami	1994	326.5	19th

Notice that not one of those teams finished in the Top 5 in the league in terms of total defense, and 6 of the 10 finished in the bottom half of the rankings.

Yes, Warner and his team have been fun to watch so far this season. But there's no guarantee we'll be watching the Rams on Super Bowl Sunday in January.

Russell S. Baxter is the chief NFL researcher for ESPN and a senior reporter for ESPN the Magazine.