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As members of the NFL 100 team, Joe Montana and Johnny Unitas are rightfully recognized as two of the best to ever play the quarterback position; in fact, until Tom Brady came along, the mantle of greatest quarterback ever usually centered around these two names. From Unitas being the first great modern quarterback with the Baltimore Colts in the 1960s to Montana’s Super Bowl brilliance with the San Francisco 49ers in the 1980s, each player won MVPs and championships while leaving an indelible mark on the game of football. With a century of professional football behind us, now is an opportune time to consider the question:
Who was better – Joe Montana or Johnny Unitas?
The Beginning
Though Montana and Unitas each had stellar college football careers, both were only drafted in the mid to late rounds and came into the NFL with modest expectations; however, upon getting the chance to start, each would seize the reins and never look back.
Growing up outside of Pittsburgh, Montana played basketball, football, and baseball as a youth; in fact, he was so good at basketball that he was actually offered a basketball scholarship by North Carolina State, though ended up attending Notre Dame to play football. As a member of the Fighting Irish, he played sparingly his first couple of seasons in 1974 and 1975 and then redshirted in 1976 for an extra year of eligibility due to a separated shoulder. In the third game of the 1977 season, Montana took over as starting quarterback and led Notre Dame to wins in all of its remaining games, including a 38-10 victory over then #1 Texas in the Cotton Bowl, to finish 11-1 and as national champions. In his redshirt senior season, he began to show some of his legendary comeback magic with a 35-34 come-from-behind win over Houston in a Cotton Bowl game dubbed the “Chicken Soup Game” due to frigid conditions. Nevertheless, despite a stellar collegiate career, Montana was not highly-rated as a pro prospect and only drafted in the third round with the 82nd overall pick by the San Francisco 49ers. Similar to his time at Notre Dame, he played sparingly in 1979 and through half of the 1980 season behind Steve DeBerg before taking over the starting reins. During his first season as a full-time starting quarterback in 1981, Montana led the league with a 63.7% completion rate for 3,565 yards and 19 touchdowns vs. 12 interceptions (88.4 QB rating) while guiding the 49ers to a 13-3 record; as a result, he earned the first of eight Pro Bowl selections and was a Second Team All-Pro.
Like Montana, Unitas grew up near Pittsburgh a few decades earlier and then attended the University of Louisville for college. He was a highly versatile football player during his four years there, not only playing quarterback on offense, but also safety or linebacker on defense, and returning kicks and punts on special teams; today, his #16 jersey is retired by the school. In 1955, Unitas was drafted in the ninth round with the 102nd overall pick by his hometown Pittsburgh Steelers, though was released before the season started as the odd man out in a four-way competition for three quarterback spots. As a result, he spent the season working in construction in the Pittsburgh area, while playing semi-pro football on the weekends. The next year, he joined the Baltimore Colts and became the starting quarterback midway through the season after George Shaw broke his leg; from there, Unitas proceeded to set a then-rookie record with a 55.6% completion rate, and also began his record 47-game streak with a passing touchdown (1956-1960), which stood until it was broken by Drew Brees in 2012. In his first full season as starting quarterback in 1957, Unitas completed 57.1% of his passes for a league-high 2,550 yards and league-leading 24 touchdowns against 17 interceptions for a league-best 88.0 QB rating; in guiding the Colts to a 7-5 record, he also earned the first of 10 Pro Bowl nods and was a Second Team All-Pro.
Career Comparison
From their relatively humble and inauspicious beginnings, Montana and Unitas would embark on Hall of Fame careers and dominate defenses for the better part of a decade, with each putting up numerous Pro Bowl, All-Pro, and MVP seasons in his respective prime.
Montana was arguably the best quarterback of the 1980s, serving as the catalyst of Bill Walsh’s renowned “West Coast Offense” that emphasized accurate short and intermediate passes. During the strike-shortened 1982 season, he led the NFL with 17 touchdown passes before embarking on three straight Pro Bowl seasons from 1983 to 1985, which included two Second Team All-Pro selections:
- 1983: completed 64.5% of passes for 3,910 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions (94.6 QB rating) with a 10-6 record
- 1984: completed 64.6% of passes for 3,630 yards, 28 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions (102.9 QB rating) with a 14-1 record
- 1985: completed league-best 61.3% of passes for 3,653 yards, 27 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions (91.3 QB rating) with a 9-6 record; 1985 also marked the arrival of Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice to San Francisco
In 1986, Montana missed half the season due to a severe back injury, though returned for the second half and ended up sharing NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors. The next season, he was even better, guiding the 49ers to a 10-1 record as a starter and earning his first First Team All-Pro selection by leading the league with a 66.8% completion rate for 3,054 yards and a league-high and career-best 31 touchdowns vs. 13 interceptions, which resulted in an NFL-best 102.1 QB rating; however, the team also traded for fellow Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, marking the start of a simmering quarterback controversy that would last for half a decade.
After a relatively down year in 1988, which only exacerbated the quarterback controversy, Montana quieted things with back-to-back First Team All-Pro and MVP seasons in his early 30s. First, in 1989, he completed a league-high 70.2% of his passes for 3,521 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 8 interceptions, good for a then-NFL record 112.4 QB rating and a 11-2 starting record. As an encore in 1990, Montana completed 61.7% of his passes for a career-high 3,944 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions, resulting in an 89.0 QB rating and a 14-1 record. Unfortunately, he then missed all of the 1991 season and most of 1992 with an elbow injury, which helped Young firmly cement his status as San Francisco’s new starting quarterback. As a result, Montana was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs in 1993, where he proceeded to have another Pro Bowl season: 2,144 yards on 60.7% passing with 13 touchdowns and 7 interceptions (87.4 QB rating). In his final season in 1994, Montana had another fine year (3,283 yards on 60.6% passing, 16 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions for an 83.6 QB rating) before retiring at age 38.
As for Unitas, he was arguably the first great modern quarterback; in an encore to his rookie campaign, he earned the first of five First Team All-Pro nods in 1958 by completing 51.7% of his passes for 2,007 yards, a league-high 19 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions for a league-best 90.0 QB rating and an 8-1 starting record. He was even better the next year in 1959, passing for 2,899 yards (52.6% completion percentage) and a career-high and league-leading 32 touchdowns vs. interceptions, good for a 92.0 QB rating; in addition to leading the Colts to a 9-3 record, Unitas was once again a First Team All-Pro and won his first MVP award. In 1960, he once again led the league in both passing yards (3,099) and touchdowns (25), marking four straight years of leading the NFL in touchdown passes.
During the midst of eight straight Pro Bowl seasons through 1964, Unitas again led the league in passing with a career-high 3,481 yards in 1963. He won a second MVP and earned another First Team All-Pro selection in 1964 on the back of 51.8% passing for 2,824 yards, 19 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions for a 96.4 QB rating and 12-2 starting record. Following a First Team All-Pro season in 1965 that saw him compile a career-high and league-best 97.4 QB rating, Unitas struggled in 1966 with a league-leading 24 interceptions. However, he managed to bounce back in 1967 with his third MVP award and last First Team All-Pro season: a career-best and league-high 58.5% passing for 3,428 yards, 20 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions, resulting in an 83.6 QB rating and an 11-1-2 record.
1967 marked the last great season of Unitas’ career; he missed most of the 1968 season with injuries, and his backup Earl Morrall won the MVP in his place. Though Unitas reclaimed the starting quarterback position in 1969 and 1970, he threw more interceptions than touchdowns both seasons. After splitting time in both 1971 and 1972, he was traded to the San Diego Chargers. In his final season in 1973, he started four games before being replaced by future Hall of Famer Dan Fouts, and would retire at season’s end at age 40.
Over the course of their respective careers, Unitas played three additional seasons and approximately 20 more games in the NFL (recall that back in Unitas’ era, NFL seasons were 12 or 14 games long). Their passing numbers are a reflection of the respective eras they played in – Montana helped usher in the short and intermediate passing game with the West Coast Offense, whereas Unitas’ day featured more vertical passing and fewer defensive restrictions; as such, this results in Montana having a similar number of passing yards on significantly more completions and owning a much higher career QB rating, while Unitas threw for more touchdowns but also more interceptions. In terms of awards and accolades, Unitas had more Pro Bowl selections (10x vs. 8x), All-Pro nods (5x vs. 3x), and MVP awards (3x vs. 2x), though Montana did have eight 3,000-yard seasons and a 30+ touchdown season vs. three and one for Unitas, respectively. On a per game basis, Montana has the numerical edge – 211 passing yards, 1.42 touchdowns vs. 0.72 interceptions in 192 regular season games compared to 191 passing yards, 1.37 touchdowns vs. 1.20 interceptions in 211 regular games for Unitas. Ultimately, perhaps the most important metric for a quarterback is winning and both players did plenty of it – Montana won 117 regular season games with a 71.3% winning percentage and Unitas won 118 games with a 64.9% winning percentage. Given all of their accomplishments, it should come as a surprise to absolutely no one that both Montana (2000) and Unitas (1979) were first ballot Hall of Fame inductees.
Regular Season Statistics
| Joe Montana | Player | Johnny Unitas |
| 15 (1979-1990, 1992-1994) | Seasons | 18 (1956-1973) |
| 192 | Games Played | 211 |
| 3,409 | Completions | 2,830 |
| 5,391 | Attempts | 5,186 |
| 40,551 | Passing Yards | 40,239 |
| 63.2% | Completion % | 54.6% |
| 273 | Passing Touchdowns | 290 |
| 139 | Interceptions | 253 |
| 92.3 | QB Rating | 78.2 |
| 117-47 (71.3%) | Starting QB Record | 118-63-4 (64.9%) |
| 8x | Pro Bowls | 10x |
| 3x | All-Pro | 5x |
| 2x | MVP | 3x |
| 4x | Super Bowls | 1x |
| 3x Super Bowl MVP, 1x Bert Bell, 1x Offensive POY, Comeback Player | Other Awards | 3x Bert Bell, 2x NFL Championship |
| 2000 | Hall of Fame Induction | 1979 |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
In addition to their regular season prowess, Montana and Unitas also helped guide their respective teams to multiple titles each; in particular, Montana elevated his game in the postseason and is regarded as one of the most clutch playoff performers in league history.
Perhaps best known for his playoff exploits, Montana led the 49ers to four Super Bowl titles during the 1980s. The first came in 1981, when Montana started his legacy with “The Catch” to Dwight Clark to beat the Dallas Cowboys 28-27 in the NFC Championship Game. Subsequently, in Super Bowl XVI, he completed 14 of 22 passes for 157 yards and a touchdown, plus a rushing touchdown, as San Francisco beat the Cincinnati Bengals 26-21; in the process, Montana became just the second quarterback (after Joe Namath) to win both a college national title and a Super Bowl. Then, in 1984, after guiding the 49ers to the first 15-win regular season in NFL history (15-1), he completed 24 of 35 passes for a then-Super Bowl record 331 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 38-16 victory over Dan Marino and the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl XIX, and once again claimed MVP honors. San Francisco would then add its third and fourth championships with back-to-back Super Bowls in the 1988 and 1989 seasons:
- Super Bowl XXIII: in a rematch vs. the Bengals, the 49ers were trailing 16-13 with 3:20 left in the game when Montana proceeded to drive the team down the field 92 yards for a game-winning touchdown to John Taylor with 34 seconds left to eke out a 20-16 victory; overall, he completed 23 of 26 passes for a new Super Bowl record of 357 passing yards with 2 touchdowns
- Super Bowl XXIV: facing John Elway and the Denver Broncos, the 49ers piled up the most lopsided victory in Super Bowl history by a 55-10 score; Montana completed 22 of 29 passes for 297 yards and then-record 5 touchdown passes to win his third Super Bowl MVP, and also became just the third player to win MVP and Super Bowl MVP in the same season (after Bart Starr in 1966 and Terry Bradshaw in 1978)
Overall, in four Super Bowl appearances, Montana went 4-0, never threw an interception, and had an incredible 127.8 QB rating.
Similarly, Unitas had six career playoff appearances that culminated in two NFL Championships and one Super Bowl title. Notably, he guided the Colts to back-to-back NFL Championships in 1958 and 1959:
- 1958: known as “The Greatest Game Ever Played”, Unitas completed 26 of 40 passes for a touchdown and an interception as the Colts beat the New York Giants 23-17 in sudden-death overtime in the first overtime game in NFL history
- 1959: in a rematch with the Giants, Unitas completed 18 of 29 passes for 264 yards and a pair of touchdowns in a 31-16 victory
Nearly a decade later, the Colts met Namath and the New York Jets in Super Bowl III; though Unitas spent most of the season backing up Earl Morrall, he came into the game and completed only 11 of 24 passes for 110 yards and an interception in a 16-7 losing effort, the first time an NFL champion lost to an AFL champion in the Super Bowl. A couple of years later, in Super Bowl V vs. the Dallas Cowboys, the Colts would prevail 16-13 – Unitas was only 3 of 9 passing for 88 yards, though did throw a then-Super Bowl record 75 yard touchdown pass, before getting knocked out in the second quarter with a rib injury; his trusty backup Morrall came on in relief and led the Colts to a come-from-behind victory.
Playoff Statistics
| Joe Montana | Player | Johnny Unitas |
| 23 | Games Played | 9 |
| 460 | Completions | 120 |
| 734 | Attempts | 226 |
| 5,772 | Passing Yards | 1,663 |
| 62.7% | Completion % | 53.1% |
| 45 | Passing Touchdowns | 7 |
| 21 | Interceptions | 10 |
| 95.6 | QB Rating | 68.9 |
| 16-7 (69.6%) | Starting QB Record | 6-2 (75.0%) |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; Montana and Unitas were no different, with each becoming embroiled in a quarterback controversy later in his career (Montana vs. Young, Unitas vs. Morrall) and eventually finishing his career with a different franchise. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams, of which Unitas and Montana are on for the 1960s and 1980s, respectively), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Joe Montana | Player | Johnny Unitas |
| 1981-1985, 1987-1990, 1993 | Decade of Dominance | 1957-1960, 1962-1967 |
| 138 | Games Played | 127 |
| 2,715 | Completions | 1,922 |
| 4,274 | Attempts | 3,479 |
| 33,015 | Passing Yards | 28,533 |
| 63.5% | Completion % | 55.2% |
| 231 | Passing Touchdowns | 227 |
| 112 | Interceptions | 155 |
| 94.3 | QB Rating | 85.5 |
| 100-34 (74.6%) | Starting QB Record | 85-37-3 (69.2%) |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
Interestingly, across their respective decades of dominance, Montana has the numerical edge in essentially every statistical category, whether that be individual numbers or team record. However, it must be caveated again that the two quarterbacks played in very different eras, so it is hard to make a statistical apples-to-apples comparison – in the same way that Unitas’ numbers may pale to Montana’s, Montana’s statistics look somewhat ordinary in today’s pass-happy era (with the exception of his winning).
My Thoughts
Joe Montana and Johnny Unitas are not only two of the best quarterbacks ever, but even more so, two of the best players to ever lace up cleats in the history of the NFL, period. In polling a sample of 100 football fans on who was better, I think it would be split relatively evenly, with old-time fans opting for Unitas and relatively younger fans perhaps leaning towards Montana. If you look at the numbers, Montana’s were better on an absolute basis, but Unitas’ were probably a little better in a relative sense. If you look at impact, both were revolutionary in their own right – Unitas was the first great modern passing quarterback, while Montana popularized the concepts of the West Coast Offense that permeate today’s NFL. And finally, if you look at winning, Montana was slightly better in the regular season and dominant in the playoffs with a 4-0 Super Bowl record. Taking all of these elements into account, Montana comes out ever so slightly ahead of Unitas in my mind.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Joe Montana
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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