Cooper Rush's magical run as the Cowboys' starting quarterback continued in the team's Week 5 win over the Rams.
Rush was far from dynamic in the victory. He completed 10 of 16 passes for 102 yards and didn't record a touchdown. Still, he didn't record a turnover and helped Dallas to improve to 4-1 on the season and 4-0 since Dak Prescott's thumb injury, a point at which many assumed the Cowboys were dead in the water.
Certainly, Rush owes a lot of his success to the performance of Dallas' defense. The offensive weapons around him including Ezekiel Elliott, Tony Pollard, CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup deserve a lot of credit for uplifting him as well.
That said, Rush made history on Sunday by improving his career record as a starter to 5-0. That is the best record to begin a career in Cowboys franchise history, and relatively few quarterbacks in NFL history have reached that milestone.
Here's more information about the exclusive club that Rush joined following Dallas' win over the Rams.
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How many NFL QBs have started their career 5-0?
In total 14 NFL quarterbacks have begun their careers by winning five consecutive starts dating back to when the stat was first counted in 1950. They are as follows.
- Daryle Lamonica, 1963-67
- Mike Livingston, 1969-72
- Mike Kruczek, 1976
- Dieter Brock, 1985
- Mike Tomczak, 1986-87
- Jeff Hostetler, 1988-91
- Daunte Culpepper, 1999
- Kurt Warner, 1999
- Marc Bulger, 2002
- Ben Roethlisberger, 2004-05
- Jimmy Garoppolo 2016-17
- Patrick Mahomes, 2017-18
- Kyle Allen, 2018-19
- Cooper Rush, 2021-22
Lamonica was the first to achieve the feat and did so during the mid-60s. He was 4-0 in four starts with the Bills during his first four seasons before he landed with the Raiders. With them, Lamonica posted a 13-1 record in his first season as a starter and was named an AP All-Pro.
In total, Lamonica won his first seven starts and posted a career record of 66-16-6 as a starter. His .801 winning percentage is the second-best in NFL history behind only Otto Graham.
Before Rush achieved the feat, Kyle Allen had been the most recent player to do so after he won a Week 16 start for the Panthers in 2018 and began the season going 4-0 in relief of an injured Cam Newton. Allen has a career record of 7-10 and currently serves as a backup for the Texans.
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Which NFL QB had the longest winning streak to begin career?
Ben Roethlisberger had the longest winning streak of any NFL starter to begin his career. Roethlisberger posted 15 consecutive regular-season wins to begin his career.
Roethlisberger took over for Tommy Maddox three games into the 2004 NFL season. The Steelers went 13-0 in his regular-season starts and won once in the playoffs before losing to the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. That was Roethlisberger's first loss, but he didn't suffer his first regular-season loss until the 2005 season.
The Steelers started the 2005 season 2-0 under Roethlisberger's leadership before the Patriots beat Pittsburgh 23-20 in a rematch of the championship game. His first loss to a non-Patriots team came in Week 11 when Peyton Manning's Colts beat the Steelers 26-17.
Below is a look at how many wins each of the 14 quarterbacks to go 5-0 logged before earning their first loss as a starter.
| Player | Wins to begin career |
| Ben Roethlisberger | 15 |
| Mike Livingston | 10 |
| Mike Tomczak | 10 |
| Dieter Brock | 7 |
| Daunte Culpepper | 7 |
| Jimmy Garoppolo | 7 |
| Daryle Lamonica | 7 |
| Marc Bulger | 6 |
| Mike Kruczek | 6 |
| Patrick Mahomes | 6 |
| Kurt Warner | 6 |
| Kyle Allen | 5 |
| Jeff Hostetler | 5 |
| Cooper Rush | 5 |
It's unclear when Rush will get a chance to try to improve to 6-0. It may come when the Cowboys face the undefeated Eagles in Week 6.
However, if Prescott may be ready to return from his thumb injury, Rush would not be guaranteed to see the field again in 2022.
