To most non-San Francisco 49ers fans, this probably won't come as a shock. But in a recent top-25 ranking of the league's all-time quarterbacks, NFL.com's Elliot Harrison put the New England Patriots' Tom Brady, not Hall of Famer Joe Montana, atop the list at No. 1 overall.

Montana was ranked No. 2.

Few among the Niners Faithful are likely to agree with Harrison's placement. There could be a few recent converts, especially after Brady picked up ring No. 6 in the Pats' 13-3 win over the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII last February. But regardless of the number of Super Bowls to Brady's credit, along with the numerous other records the 41-year-old former 49ers fan holds, Montana is probably still going to be the G.O.A.T. to many.

Harrison explained why he put Brady atop the list:


He minimizes mistakes without sacrificing production, then wins the important downs so his team wins in the standings, game after game, year after year. Brady is the NFL's top all-time quarterback, if not player. Yep. He is probably that, too.

Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves here, Elliot. That one Hall of Fame wide receiver, Jerry Rice, deserves that accolade of best-ever player.

At any rate, Harrison was still awfully complimentary of Montana, as he should be:

His 1984 season was, along with [Dan] Marino, the first 100 passer rating season since 1976. Montana went 18-1 as a starter that year for perhaps the most complete squad in Super Bowl history. His 1989 campaign, when he won the first of two MVP awards, was insane. Despite playing under rules that made the quarterback position much more arduous than it is today, Montana completed more than 70 percent of his passes with a 112.4 passer rating. Those numbers would still be right around the top of the charts today.

Montana certainly can't match up against Brady's longevity, and the latter's six Super Bowl wins to Montana's four help separate the two from being in many an analyst's top spot.

Still, Montana never tossed a Super Bowl interception, whereas Brady currently owns six of those. Brady's career Super Bowl passer rating is 95.6 -- awfully excellent, especially considering he was on the losing side three times in his nine championship appearances.

Montana, meanwhile, owns a career Super Bowl passer rating of 127.8 -- No. 1 all time among quarterbacks with at least 40 pass attempts in the big game. Brady's number didn't even crack the top 10 in this particular category.


None of that will likely change most takes and lists of all-time great quarterbacks, and that's fine. Lists like these are entirely subjective anyway, and it's perfectly OK to have biases. That's called being a fan.

Speaking of fans, and for the final kicker deciding which quarterback should be considered the greatest of all time, all you need to know is which quarterback Brady idolized growing up.

Written By:

Peter Panacy


Peter Panacy has been writing about the 49ers since 2011 for outlets like Bleacher Report, Niner Noise, 49ers Webzone, and is occasionally heard as a guest on San Francisco's 95.7 FM The Game and the Niners' flagship station, KNBR 680. Feel free to follow him, or direct any inquiries to his Twitter account.
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