You can't take away the Super Bowls, but the greatest ever--give me a break!!! Montana was the Virgil Carter of his era--Master of the Three Yard Toss. Dr. Dink and Dunk. Played in a bad division for most of his career. In no particular order, the list of quarterbacks who were better than Montana includes Elway, Unitas, Marino, Favre, Bradshaw, Kelly, Otto Graham, Sammy Baugh, Starr, Manning. There are probably a few others as well. I rated him as average, and that might not be completely fair, but in the 80s (thanks in no small part to the brutal Steeler teams of the 70s) the game changed radically. If Montana had played ten or twenty years earlier, his career would have been cut in half. That dinky passing game worked because defenses were barred from physical play. Bill Walsh understood this and developed the pinball offenses that won games and bored true football fans to death, and Montana was Walsh's guy. Montana was the ultimate System Quarterback. When the 49ers were at their peak, almost anyone they put behind center (a common occurrance since Smilin Joe was always hurt)--Steves Young and Bono, Garcia and a string of forgettable guys all seemed to play well. Even Walsh's departure didn't seem to make a difference.

I am a NY Giant fan, but Joe Montana was the best ever,and there is no ifs,ands, or buts about it. When Joe Cool was on the field he could change the game. Check out both Superbowls against the Bengals.People say he was great on a great team, but when he went to KC he became mortal.Could it be that they were the last 2 years of his career? Hall of Famer and the Mr. Clutch of the NFL.

great quarterback but stint in Kansas City proved he is mortal.

Hall of fame of course and well deserved

THE BEST EVER!!!

I guess this guy is the greatest quarterback of all time... all I know is that my global teacher used to play basketball with him and he always mentions it.

Played w\ a all star cast.. When playing with a average team the fell hard.

Joe Cool is all I have to say.

Freakishly effective. As many rings as anyone has, good numbers, and he was better in the clutch than ANYONE.

Like an earlier lister, I too saw the game where Joe Montana (after getting beat viciously for 3 quarters) dusted himself off and scored four fourth quarter TD's to come back against the Philadelphia Eagles at the Vet. . .It's trendy to say that Joe had a HOF supporting cast, true. . .but was anyone better in a big game than Joe Montana?

Cool under pressure. I remember back in 1989, when the 49'ers were playing the Iggles at the Vet. I was at college in New Hampshire and my roommate was from Northeast Philadelphia. Anyway, the Niners are down three scores in the 4th Quarter. Totally awesome!

IMO, the best ever.

How great is joe? Let me put it to you this way; Joe was over the hill, been through about a million surgeries, replaced by steve young, and plays for kansas city with average receivers. Monday night game: Everyone and their momma swore that Elway came from behind and won that game, hell, I saw tears coming from elways eyes, but it aint over until the fat wine drinking singing lady sing. Proven just by this game, and his retirement soon after that it was all JOE. We all know about the superbowls, stats, and great team. Montana proved again he can beat the big boys with average players. A god among great men!

A legend! He DOES deserve the 'all time' rating. Gotta love Montana

This is the only guy that I would rate over Ken Stabler in his prime, While is true that systems often make the quarterback and Joe had the best system and the greatest array of offensive talent that a quarterback ever enjoyed, this guy was so cool, so accurate, and so artistic in the pocket that he could have won with any team. How could you not rally around a guy who'd been there so many times and always came out on top? He was the same magnificent wizard with Notre Dame that he was with the 49rs. Never the guy that was the preseason pick to start, but always the guy who ended up with the job. For once the numbers don't lie and the hype turns out to be true. He was the best there ever was.

Unmatched in touch and finesse.

You can't deny the guy was great. Come on. He looked like a stick out there, but he came through everytime it was close. No one better in clutch situations.

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The Best who ever played the game. Cool calculating intelegent nimble accurate touch leader vision poise accuracy. The best of all these traits.

Could always come through in the clutch when his team needed him to.

What makes Joe the greatest QB of all time? For all those people who want to argue over stats, I will say this - Statistics, while based in fact, are largely circumstantial - All of you would probably feel pretty good about yourselves throwing 8 TD's in a game against a team of 10 year olds... Evidence of Montana being the greatest of all time is that he consistently produced in big game situations, and often, produced from a deficit... THERE IS NO GREATER EXAMPLE OF GREATNESS THAN AN ABILITY TO WIN WHEN YOU ARE DOWN. PERIOD. The fact that his stats (Passing Yards, TD's, Superbowl Rings, etc) are pretty extraordinary is just icing on the cake. Don't believe me? Then go back to playing your games with 10 year olds and leave the tough stuff to Joe.

Still the best

The greatest quarterback of all time. Joe could look down the field and see the play before it happened with out tipping his hand. A constant professional and an excellant roll model. Its to bad that we don't have more professional athletes like the great Joe Montana.

Along with Johnny Unitas, Joe Montana was the greatest quarterback ever. I really cannot say who was better between these two, but both were heads and shoulders above the rest in this list of great quarterbacks. But what made the great Joe Montana standout was his ability to stay calm during the big games and deliver a victory. Montana was the ultimate master of the two-minute drill, as evidenced by his masterful drive to glory in Superbowl XXIII against the game Cincinnati Bengals. Not blessed with a rifle arm, Montana more than compensated with great intelligence and an uncanny on-field vision. With three Superbowl MVPs to boot, is it any wonder why 'Joe Cool' is considered by many to be the greatest ever? Yes, there will be better quarterbacks with greater physical attributes. But there will never be a quarterback as cool in the clutch as Joe Montana.

Incomparibly the greatest quarterback the NFl and the 1980's has ever seen. The comback kid used Bill Walsh's unique west-coast style of offense like nobody has ever had.

i personally think favre and dan the man were better, but he is great and has the rings to prove it

This is what Widgey says: Take away the team and joe is merely average, theres no way he carries his team like elway or marino. What a loser! Widgey you don't know your football, homey. Know wut I'm sayin? Do you realize that Montana was one of the greatest clutch QB's ever. Anyone dat rates him lower den 5 has a mental problem.

Even though he never got the yards Elway gained or the TD's Marino scored no QB ever played better in the big game. I still miss him.

Greatest QB ever, but I'm biased because I'm a 49ers fan.

4 Super Bowls: 4 wins, 0 losses 11 TD's, 0 INT's. What?

For my money I would say he's the second greatest ever for simply his ability to win. He did benefit from phenomenal talent around him at time but won his first Superbowl before Rice arrived, was a phenomenal winner in college and almost got the job done in KC when he was way past his prime. His statistics match up with anyone's with over 40k passing around 275 TD passes and 4300 completions. But where it matters most he racked up 4 Superbowl rings in 4 tries including one of the most memorable drives in Superbowl history to beat the Cinncinati. Joe Cool couldn't be any cooler.

For my money the best quarterback of all time. With a name like that, what else could he be?

Not as great as Unitas, but he was very successful. A guy named Jerry Rice also made a difference at the end of his career.

Four rings, need I say more. Don't make me go digging in the stat sheets.

this list has one major flaw. it is missing the main weapon of don(air)correal and the san diego air force, the offence that changed the game, the lightning arm of DAN FOUTS. this list is a joke.

Take away the team and joe is merely average, theres no way he carries his team like elway or marino

If the Super Bowl was on the line and I needed one play from my QB, without question I would want Joe Montana.

Overated because he was in California.

I would rate Montana much higher if he had not had Bill Walsh calling the plays and great wide recivers but he made great plays in the clutch but he is not the greatest quarterback ever sorry. but he was the west coast offense greatest QB.

a half a hair behind Unitas as the greatest QB ever.

He had everything a quarterback dreams of in a career. He is the measuring stick for greatness.

Solid, of course, can't consider him the best of all time due to the amount of super star athletes that made up his supporting cast. Yep, won the big games when they were on the line, but Christ, Deter Brock could've too with those teams.

#1 by a longshot! he had it all

he was blessed to have great coaching, a solid running game, an underrated defense, and to play in horribly weak divisions most of his career.

Montana certainly defines the category of intangibles when you describe him as a player. An overachiever to say the least who just always found a way to win. All these compliments courtesy of a Dallas Cowboy fan.

Four championships along with the uncanny ability to bring his team back from behind on so many occasions. Certainly one of the best ever.

Joe was the best.