Joe Montana Continued To Play at a High Level in Kansas City

Published on April 27th, 2025 11:42 am EST
Written By: Dave Manuel


It's the old story - a superstar stays on for too long in the league and ends up tarnishing their legacy.

Michael Jordan shouldn't have played with the Washington Wizards.

Joe Montana shouldn't have played with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Is this really the reality?

The reality is that Michael Jordan was actually very good with the Washington Wizards - in fact, he was considered a top 5 MVP candidate at the All-Star Break in his first season with the Wizards, before injuries eventually took him out of full-time play. At one point in the season, MJ was averaging 27 points per game and had the Wizards 5 games over .500.

Joe Montana was also much better than people remember in Kansas City.

After missing almost two full seasons of play with an elbow injury (and after Steve Young took over), Montana signed with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Montana played just 11 games in his first season with the Chiefs and put up some decent numbers, throwing for 2,144 yards, 13 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.

Montana made the Pro Bowl that season, as the Chiefs went 8-3-0 in games that he started.

In his final year in the league, at the age of 38, Montana played in 14 games, with the Chiefs putting up a record of 9-5-0 in games that he started.

Montana threw for 3,283 yards, 16 touchdowns and just 9 interceptions over the course of the season - still very good numbers for a starting quarterback in the NFL, especially one that is almost 40 years of age.

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In his final game in the NFL, Montana went on the road to Miami where the Chiefs played the Dolphins in an AFC Divisional Round playoff game.

Montana threw for 314 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception in a losing effort, as the Chiefs fell by a score of 27-17.

Montana was phenomenal in the game, as he had a completion percentage of over 70% and over 300 yards passing.

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Joe Montana was still clearly a quarterback that was capable of producing results in the NFL, though he decided to step away from the NFL after his final game against the Miami Dolphins.

Montana had nothing left to prove at that point, as he had successfully come back from a serious injury and proved that he could still play in the NFL.