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• Monday morning quarterback
  Monday morning quarterback

  noun

  a person who criticizes the actions or decisions of others after the fact, using hindsight to assess situations and specify alternative solutions.
• Monday-morning quarterback
  Monday-morning quarterback

  A person who criticizes or passes judgment from a position of hindsight, as in Ethel was a Monday-morning quarterback about all the personnel changes in her department—she always claimed to have known what was going to happen. This expression, first recorded in 1932, alludes to fans who verbally “replay” Sunday's football game the next day, the quarterback being the team member who calls the plays.

Monday morning quarterback

American  

noun

Informal.

1. a person who criticizes the actions or decisions of others after the fact, using hindsight to assess situations and specify alternative solutions.

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Monday morning quarterback British  

noun

1. informal a person who criticizes or suggests alternative courses of action from a position of hindsight after the event in question

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Monday-morning quarterback Idioms  

1. A person who criticizes or passes judgment from a position of hindsight, as in Ethel was a Monday-morning quarterback about all the personnel changes in her department—she always claimed to have known what was going to happen. This expression, first recorded in 1932, alludes to fans who verbally “replay” Sunday's football game the next day, the quarterback being the team member who calls the plays.

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Other Word Forms

• Monday morning quarterbacking
  noun

Etymology

Origin of Monday morning quarterback

First recorded in 1940–45

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Monday morning quarterback Monday-morning quarterback

Therapy may help you with this Monday morning quarterback.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 10, 2025

Atkins said she wasn’t sure, saying: “It’s easy to Monday morning quarterback now. ... We know more today than we did then.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2024

"One doesn't want to be a Monday morning quarterback on that," he said.

From Salon ● Apr. 5, 2020

It may have been a poor call on the part of the Pittsburgh officials to not delay school, but it’s easy to Monday morning quarterback.

From Washington Times ● Feb. 27, 2019

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said it's easy for critics to "play Monday morning quarterback" on the training program's slow progress.

From US News ● Sep. 16, 2015

“It’s very easy to Monday-morning quarterback and sit on the couch and tell us what we should have done now that the thing has happened,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 14, 2025

“It’s always easy to sit back and Monday-morning quarterback a case,” he said Thursday.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 30, 2022

It’s easy to Monday-morning quarterback these things, though, and to be fair to the Post, not only is the unstoppable apparatus top secret, Parscale is a notoriously prickly interview.

From Slate ● Mar. 12, 2019

“I really think it is easy to Monday-morning quarterback judges as we are making decisions that have more context,” she said, staring at a Post reporter taking notes in the courtroom.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 2, 2016

He said it “would generally be inappropriate” to act as a Monday-morning quarterback on that case.

From Washington Times ● Dec. 24, 2014