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Montana who had the better wide receivers on his team

Regardless of who was catching the ball, Montana had the best 'head' ever for the game - think about how many come-from-behind drives he engineered during his career. When people were literally ready to pass out from excitement (re: 1982 NFC Championship v. Dallas; 1989 Superbowl v. Cincinatti), he somehow would pull out the win.

Match his stats, rings and intangibles mentioned above, and Joe stands heads and shoulders above all the rest.

You could knock the living snot out of him. He would get up, spit out the blood and wink at you, and say that was a great hit," says former Chicago Bears' All-Pro linebacker Mike Singletary about Joe Montana.

Montana, who led the 49ers to four Super Bowl victories and is the only player to win three Super Bowl MVPs, was voted No. 25 among North American athletes of the 20th century by SportsCentury's distinguished 48-person panel.

Signature game
Jan. 10, 1982 -- The game will forever be remembered for "The Catch." But the pass was pretty impressive, too. And so was the drive.

Trailing the Dallas Cowboys 27-21 in the NFC championship game, the San Francisco 49ers took over on their own 11 with 4:54 left in the fourth quarter at Candlestick Park. Mixing four running plays with six passes, Montana adroitly moved the 49ers to the Dallas 13. But on first down, he missed an open Freddie Solomon in the end zone, causing the 49ers' usually stoic coach, Bill Walsh, to leap in the air and let out a yell.

Two plays later, faced with a third-and-three on the six, a mobile Montana sprinted to his right while three Cowboys chased him. In the back of the end zone, his favorite target, Dwight Clark, ran in the same direction. Throwing off the wrong foot, Montana lofted the ball towards the end zone. Knocked down, Montana never saw Clark's leaping catch. He rolled over, saw Clark's feet hit the ground and then heard the crowd roar. Ray Wersching's extra point with 51 seconds left gave the 49ers a 28-27 victory, putting them in their first Super Bowl.

"I was thinking of throwing the ball away, but I saw Dwight come open and I figured if I could hang on another half-second ..." Montana said. "We're instructed that if we throw that pass to make sure he's the only one who can catch it."

Tackle Keith Fehnhorst said, "That last drive will go down in history."