Monday-morning quarterback

Professional football games in the United States are most often played on Sundays, making Monday a likely day for fans to discuss and critique the performances of teams, in particular that of the quarterback who leads the offence on the field. However, there is evidence that the term actually derived in college football, which is usually played on Saturdays, in which case the use of Monday would also likely be on account of Sunday being the Christian sabbath and a traditional day of rest in the U.S., making it unlikely certain groups with a common interest in the game (such as co-workers) would meet before Monday.

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Monday-morning quarterback (plural Monday-morning quarterbacks)

1. (US, idiomatic) Someone who criticizes with hindsight.

Monday-morning quarterback (third-person singular simple present Monday-morning quarterbacks, present participle Monday-morning quarterbacking, simple past and past participle Monday-morning quarterbacked)

1. To criticize with hindsight.
   • 1958 January, Jacksel M. Broughton, “I Led the Thunderbirds”, in Popular Mechanics‎, volume 109, number 1:

     Before any show, we "Monday-morning quarterback" the last show. Each man points out his partners' errors, then has to listen to his own.

   • 2004, William A. Cohen, The Art of the Strategist‎, American Management Association, →ISBN, page 119:

     We can Monday-morning quarterback the situation and suggest that the large company should have made a counterchallenge.

   • 2007, Al Alloway, Treasure in the Park‎, self-published, →ISBN, page 126:

     Nathan, Dave & Marty, wisely chose to leave the battle strategy to the police, Monday-morning quarterbacking the fray from inside the safety of a cement block restroom building.

• armchair quarterback
• back-seat driver
• twenty-twenty hindsight
• wise after the event