The Montana/Young saga of '91-'92

Originally posted by BHulman:
It was actually Jeff Kemp who filled in for Montana in 86.

you're right!

Originally posted by BobS:
Montana was 5 years older than Steve and was out the better part of 2 years with an elbow injury, it made perfect sense to trade him. Would have been an interesting poll question if the zone was around then. I did think Steve would get more than one ring as the starter. I wanted Joe traded, but was pulling for him to do well, as long as he wasn't playing us.

Have to admit I wanted Montana to start until his arm fell off. LOL! Logical? No!

Always felt Young was the more "dominant" QB so long as the offensive weapons were there. I think the '94 offense was more "efficient" than the '89....just moved the chains so well.

However, in big games and when it counted most, Joe was undeniably in a league of his own.

I am 28 so I started to really be able to get into football at about the 1992 season when Steve took over. I grew up watching him so he will always be one of my favorites. That said, I have seen all the Montana games. My opinion is that Steve easily had more athletic talent but Montana was simply the best.

But to me the bottom line between Joe vs. Steve:
Joe is the best to ever play the position. Steve is top 10-15 all time. We were just lucky to have them both.

i will put in my two cents worth, i was a montana man but i had no problems in seeing him go cuz i felt it was time to move on and I did not miss him as he was in kansas city cuz he was no longer a niner. Now steve young made me mad cuz he could not win the big game and when he got hurt and Bono came in i was all for the niners trading young to the chiefs for Derrick Thomas, which was a story at the time.. i liked bono better cuz he looked like montana when he dropped back! Lucky i stayed with young, had patience and he got over the hump which is exactly what I think is going on with alex. Of course i liked steve spurrier when he came in for brody in 1973 and i was all for giving dennis erickson a second year with his own coaches so what the hell do i know

cciowa--boy did Spurrier come in with some hoopla! I thought they would be champions. But Stanford has always turned out to be better QBs than Florida!

Originally posted by dtg_9er:
cciowa--boy did Spurrier come in with some hoopla! I thought they would be champions. But Stanford has always turned out to be better QBs than Florida!

he was a good punter for us! actually he did do well when John B had the bad ankle but had to come back to bail us out in the playoffs vs the vikings

Why can't we just appreciate that we had both of them. Some teams would kill to have a hall of fame QB, we had two back to back.

Montana will always be my favorite 49ers QB (and player), but that doesn't take away what Young accomplished.

As for those playoff losses, Young gets way to much crap for those. We didn't beat Dallas until we improved the defense (we stopped letting Alvin Harper run free against us) and Favre was always one step ahead of our defense (even when we were no 1).

We would score a TD and then the Packers would come right back.

Originally posted by linkboy:
Why can't we just appreciate that we had both of them. Some teams would kill to have a hall of fame QB, we had two back to back.

Montana will always be my favorite 49ers QB (and player), but that doesn't take away what Young accomplished.

As for those playoff losses, Young gets way to much crap for those. We didn't beat Dallas until we improved the defense (we stopped letting Alvin Harper run free against us) and Favre was always one step ahead of our defense (even when we were no 1).

We would score a TD and then the Packers would come right back.

Favre seemed to own us, he had a 12-2 record against us for his career.

A couple of things: Watching Montana get knocked out of the NFC Championship game in January '91 just took the life out of 49ers fan. We knew with Montana on the field we always had a chance to win-we expected to win. When Young took over, as great as he was, he never had that confidence from the fan base. I'm not saying we didn't think he was one of the best QB's in the game but simply that fans became more nervous and less confident without Joe Cool. I remember one NFL films that said Montana conducted the offense like a symphony or orchestra, while Young conducted it like a jam session. It was just more nerve racking. No longer could we say, "We have Joe, we'll be alright."
I loved watching Joe comeback for that Monday night game against Detroit, throwing TD's to Brent Jones and Amp Lee. Though I realized by then it was Steve's team, I will forever wonder what would have happened had they put Joe in the NFC championship game that year.
One last thing: I also remember thinking Steve's first season as a starter was an utter failure because we missed the playoffs for the first time since 82, but we were still 10-6. It sure goes to show how the culture had changed this past decade. We went from thinking 10-6 was a bad record to thinking that 8-8 was a good record and sign of good things to come. Harbaugh is finally changing that culture back to the 49ers of old. By that I mean that he is instilling in the fan base an expectation to win and be successful again, rather than just being hopeful to go 9-7 and maybe make the playoffs. I miss those days when every year was Super Bowl or Bust!!!

Originally posted by Afrikan:
man I was torn apart during those years.

I was about 10, and I just remember my dad always being a Negative Nancy when it came to my 9ers at the time. He had already gave up on Joe and was telling me "look, Steve can run with the ball"...but I was still holding out hope Joe was fine, even though I like Steve when ever he was on the field. I wanted both of them, but didn't understand how that would be possible...but wanted it either way.

so one thing I remember from that Monday night game against the Lions, there was a few plays when Joe got back on the field for the first time.....well, he ran with the ball like never before....and it was kind of sad, because I remember turning to my dad and telling him "see, Joe can run too". I personally thought Joe ran on those few situations just to show he could do it too. But no, that was it...and he was gone.

then years later when Steve would struggle in the playoffs, here comes father talking s**t about Steve...while I was still holding out hope. So that 94 season meant so much for me as well.

This

I was like 12 in the 92 era, It wasn't my dad that was so hard on him but it was all his friends that came over for football Sunday's, they would always have some smart comment about Steve, that I just never understood, I was a big Joe fan at the time, having his jersey and a an autographed pic of him as well as a team signed football Idk what it was though when Young took over the starting job and Montana was traded, I almost instantly became a Steve Young fan, I loved the way he played, reminded me of Cunningham a little but with more accuracy. I always got sh@t for from my family mainly my Grandma who was a big Montana fan. The thing that I will never get though is why our fans booed Steve, idc about the excuses, I just don't believe in booing any Niner no matter the circumstances.

Joe always will be my favorite 49er, but at the time I was fully on board with moving on to Steve Young. I don't think Joe could have gotten us over the hump in 91-93. Dallas was just a better put together team during that stretch . . . primarily due to us trading away Haley to them . But at the same time it was clear to me that we could win Championships with Steve Young and he had a lot more tread on the tire.

As much as it hurt it was the right call.

The fan base was bitterly split though. It was THE DOMINANT sports talk show topic . . . which along with "Letters to the Editor" was one of the few available debate forums back in the day. But it got ugly sometimes. I heard "49er fans" in the Montana camp openly wish for a Steve Young injury more than once during that stretch just so Joe would get a "fair chance" to win back the job.

I was a massive Montana fan and did not like Steve Young one bit.......until that run versus the Vikings. He instantly won me over right at that moment and I was torn between the two. I still was a massive Montana fan but also had become a Young fan. Was a win win situation for me.

BTW, I think that run vs the Vikings is the greatest play in NFL history while Montana to Taylor in SB 23 is my favorite play of all time.

Originally posted by Happs:

I was a massive Montana fan and did not like Steve Young one bit.......until that run versus the Vikings. He instantly won me over right at that moment and I was torn between the two. I still was a massive Montana fan but also had become a Young fan. Was a win win situation for me.

BTW, I think that run vs the Vikings is the greatest play in NFL history while Montana to Taylor in SB 23 is my favorite play of all time.

That was a hell of a run.

Originally posted by Dr_Bill_Walsh:

1994 - Only ever showdown between Montana-led Chiefs and Young-led 49ers occurs in week 2. Chiefs win the game 24-17, but Steve Young and the 49ers end up having the better season on their way to their 5th Super Bowl title. Steve Young seemingly finally has won over the majority of 49er fans during this season with his performance. Joe Montana plays his last ever NFL game in a wild-card playoff loss to Miami on the last day of 1994.

What people forget about that SF-KC game is that 4 of the 5 starting o-linemen were out with injuries, and the game was won more with the KC defense than with a Montana/Young shootout. Young had no time to throw that game whatsoever.