Joe Montana is a retired professional American football player who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. He also briefly played for the Kansas City Chiefs. Nicknamed Joe Cool and the Comeback Kid, Montana led his teams to 31 fourth-quarter come-from-behind victories.[1][2] In the closing moments of Super Bowl XXIII, Montana threw a game-winning touchdown pass to Dwight Clark to secure a come-from-behind victory for the 49ers over the Cincinnati Bengals. The touchdown became known as The Catch.
Montana 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 (122 in 4 games) and the all-time highest passer rating of 127.8. In 1993, he was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, his first year of eligibility.[3] In 1999, editors at The Sporting News ranked Montana third on their list of Football's 100 Greatest Players.[4] Also in 1999, ESPN named Montana one of their Top 10 Athletes of the 20th Century.[5] In 2006, Sports Illustrated rated him number 1 on their list of greatest quarterbacks[6] and CBS SportsLine ranked him #4 all time,[7] while Peter King ranked him #6 all time on NBC Sports' Top 100 list that same year; both lists were updated after his death in 2020