Monday morning quarterback
Suggest a CorrectionMeaning
A person who criticizes a decision after its outcome is known and confidently explains what should have been done instead. Informal and usually critical. It applies beyond sport whenever judgment benefits unfairly from knowing the outcome. Regional use: American English.
Origin
The phrase comes from American football, whose important games were traditionally played on Sunday. By Monday, spectators knew the result and could second-guess the quarterback's choices without having faced the pressure of the game. Merriam-Webster traces the expression to the early 1930s and cites a 1931 comment by college quarterback Barry Wood about people in the stands. It soon moved beyond sport to politics, business, emergencies, and any criticism made easy by hindsight.
Research Sources
Variants
- Monday quarterback
- Monday-morning quarterbacking
Usage Examples
- Every failed launch attracts a crowd of Monday morning quarterbacks.
- It is easy to Monday-quarterback the evacuation after seeing the final weather map.
- The committee needed evidence, not another hour of Monday-morning quarterbacking.