Joe Montana was known as “Joe Cool“ and “The Comeback Kid” is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons….primarily with the San Francisco 49ers and then with the Kansas City Chiefs for the final two seasons of his NFL career. After winning a college national championship at Notre Dame….Montana started his NFL career in 1979 with San Francisco…. where he played for the next 14 seasons…..and while a member of the 49ers…. Montana started and won four Super Bowls….and was the first player ever to have been named Super Bowl Most Valuable Player three times. He also holds Super Bowl career records for most passes without an interception with 122 in 4 games….and is the holder of the all-time highest quarterback rating of 127.8 for a season…..and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000, his first year of eligibility. In 1989, and again in 1990, the Associated Press named Joe Cool the NFL Most Valuable Player (MVP)….while Sports Illustrated magazine named him the 1990 “Sportsman of the Year”….whereas four years earlier, in 1986, Montana won the AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award. Montana was elected to eight Pro Bowls….as well as being voted 1st team All-Pro by the AP in 1987, 1989, and 1990. Montana had the highest passer rating in the National Football Conference (NFC) five times in 1981, 1984, 1985, 1987, and 1989….and, in both 1987 and 1989, Montana had the highest passer rating in the NFL.
Noted for his ability to remain calm under pressure….The Comeback Kid helped his teams to 32 fourth-quarter come-from-behind victories….and with 58 seconds left in the 1981 NFC Championship Game against the Dallas Cowboys….he completed a game-winning touchdown pass so memorable that it would become known simply as “The Catch”. In Super Bowl XXIII against the Cincinnati Bengals, Montana threw another remarkable game-winning touchdown pass at the end of a 92-yard drive with only 36 seconds left on the game clock.
In 1993, Montana was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs….after which he led the franchise to its first AFC Championship Game in January 1994….plus in 1994, Montana earned a spot on the NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team….in addition to also being named as a member of the NFL 1980’s All-Decade Team….when in 1999 the editors at The Sporting News ranked Montana 3rd on their list of Football’s 100 Greatest Players….and in the same year was named by ESPN as the 25th greatest athlete of the 20th century….while in 2006, Sports Illustrated rated him the number-one clutch quarterback of all time.
To say that the San Francisco 49’ers struck gold when they drafted Joe Cool, The Comeback Kid….would be a huge understatement…..as evidenced by this NFL Films production as hosted by Steve Sabol….with The Voice of God John Facenda providing narration….featuring the story of when San Francisco struck gold.
