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Joe Montana was considered by many NFL football fans as the greatest
professional quarterback of all, Montana had a strange career at
Notre
Dame. Not always a starter, he won acclaim for his ability to
come off the bench and rally the team to victory, most notably in
the 1979 Cotton Bowl, when he brought Notre Dame back from a 23-point
deficit in the fourth quarter to win 35-34. Joe Montana is known
for being a winner.
A third-round
choice of the San Francisco 49ers
in the 1979 NFL college draft, Montana took over as the starter
in his second season and led the league in completion percentage
with 64.5. The following year, he helped lead the 49ers to the Super
Bowl Championship and was its MVP, completing 14 of 22 passes for
157 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for a touchdown in San Francisco's
26-21 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
In Super Bowl
XIX, after the 1984 season, Montana was once again MVP. He completed
24 of 35 passes for 331 yards and 2 touchdowns and ran 5 times for
59 yards and another touchdown as the 49ers overwhelmed the Miami
Dolphins 38-16.
The 49ers also
won Super Bowls XXIII and XXIV, after the 1988 and 1989 seasons.
Montana was MVP in the latter game, when he completed 22 of 29 pass
attempts for 297 yards and 5 touchdowns. He is the only player to
be named Super Bowl MVP three times, and he was one of only five
to play on all four San Francisco championsship teams.
Joe Montana
was a very mobile quarterback with an uncanny ability to complete
passes while on the run, Montana didn't often put up really big
numbers because the 49ers complemented their passing with a strong
running attack. However, he led the NFL in completion percentage
five times, with a high of 70.2 percent in 1989. He was also the
leader in touchdown passes with 17 in 1982 and 31 in 1987; in yards
per attempt with 9.12 in 1989; and in quarterback rating with 102.1
in 1987 and a record 112.4 in 1989.
Joe Montana
was named the NFL player of the year by The Sporting News in 1989
and he was the Associated Press athlete of the year in 1989 and
1990. He was selected for 7 Pro Bowls.
An elbow injury
sidelined him for the entire 1991 season and most of the 1992 season,
when he returned for just one game. He was traded with defensive
back David Whitmore to the Kansas
City Chiefs for two draft choices in April of 1993.
In his first
season in Kansas City, the Chiefs made it to the AFC championship
game. They made the playoffs again in 1994 but lost in the first
round and Montana announced his retirement.
Joe Montana
was the fifth quarterback to pass for more than 40,000 yards. He
ranks seventh all-time in passing yardage and touchdown passes thrown
and third in career quarterback rating. |
