NFL News: Ranking QB performances from the championship games

4. Andrew Luck

Jan 18, 2015; Foxborough, MA, USA; Indianapolis Colts quarterback

(12) shakes hands with New England Patriots quarterback

(12) after the AFC Championship Game at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stew Milne-USA TODAY Sports

Stats: 12-33, 126 yards, 2 INTs

While Andrew Luck has shown plenty of improvement in his first three years of the league, Tom Brady showed him that he still has a long way to go.

Believe it or not, the loss wasn’t all Luck’s fault, as he was again plagued by drops from his receivers and another putrid performance from his defense.

However, Luck certainly didn’t help his case by throwing two picks and missing some of his receivers with his sailing throws.

Luck had huge expectations placed upon him coming out of Stanford and has certainly lived up to those expectations after three years in the league. In each year of the league, Luck has improved greatly in the postseason: in his rookie year, the Colts were bounced in the wild cards, in his second year, Luck lost to Brady in the divisionals, and this year, Luck obviously got trounced in the AFC Championship game.

As Luck continues to grow and develop into a legendary quarterback, he will obviously have to cut back on the interceptions and make smarter decisions with the football. But it would also help if Jim Irsay put his money where his mouth is and actually fork out the money to give Luck receivers who can catch the ball and a defense that knows how to tackle.

There is one positive from Luck’s AFC Championship loss: the neck beard will finally come off.