Joe Montana has plenty of memorable Super Bowl moments as he was won four of them. But there is one that stands out a little more than the others. PopCulture.com recently caught up with the 64-year-old Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback and revealed his most favorite Super Bowl memory while playing with the San Francisco 49ers.
“The touchdown pass to John Taylor to win Super Bowl XXIII,” Montana said. “As a quarterback, I did that so many times in my backyard with my neighbor growing up, except I used to make him dive for the ball just for the excitement.” Montana went on to mention that all four of his Super Bowl appearances are special to him.
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“The first one’s the first, the second we played at Stanford Stadium,” Montana stated. “Throwing a touchdown pass in the next one, and the last one, we just had a great game after we got it all settled out the first-part jitters out of the way. We ended up blowing out Denver and found out the hard way you don’t want to do that because you get taken out of the game early.”
For Super Bowl XXIII, Montana threw the game-winning touchdown pass, but Jerry Rice was named MVP after catching 11 passes for 215 yards and one touchdown. Montana ended the night with 357 yards and two touchdowns with a 115.2 quarterback rating.
With Montana playing in four Super Bowls, he knows how crazy things can get during Super Bowl week. This year is unique because the Tampa Bay Buccaneers don’t have to travel since the game is being played at their home stadium. And because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kansas City Chiefs will not get to Raymond James Stadium until two days before kickoff instead of one week. Montana said the hardest one was Super Bowl XIX since the game was played in the team’s home state when talking about Super Bowl week.
“All your friends, family and neighbors are still there,” Montana explained. “And they all pester the heck out of you. So in a way, it was good to get away from it, and Jennifer [Montanta’s wife] told me, ‘You know what, go upstairs, get your stuff and I’m taking you to the hotel.’ She saw how uptight I got.”
Montana went on to talk about the team’s schedule during Super Bowl week and players were complaining because of the early curfew. He said: “Bill’s [Walsh] philosophy was, ‘Look, those guys are having fun now and celebrating that we made it here, we’ll celebrate after we win.’”
