This Hurts To Say, But Tom Brady Was Better Than Joe Montana

Here’s what I really wanted to write . . .

It’s so tempting to pick Tom Brady as the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) among NFL quarterbacks. Even so, if the sports world moves out of its 21st century bubble that often ranks the present over the past, let’s be honest.

It’s Joe Montana over Brady.

The last time I checked, Montana still hadn’t lost a Super Bowl after four trips to the ultimate championship of team sports.

Brady lost three of them.

Still, at worst, Brady is 1B to Montana’s 1A.

OK, OK. Now back to the 21st century, which is also back to reality when it comes to Brady’s place in NFL history. After he made it official Tuesday that he won’t play a 23rd season overall — which would have been his third with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after 20 for the New England Patriots — league commissioner Roger Goodell had it all wrong moments later when he released a statement following Brady’s retirement post on Instagram.

In part, Goodell wrote, “Tom Brady will be remembered as one of the greatest to ever play in the NFL.”

Wrong.

Tom Brady was the greatest ever to play in the NFL.

The most important position in professional sports is starting NFL quarterback, where Super Bowls are won or lost the most. Therefore, if you’re the league’s all-time greatest quarterback, well, you know.

This unassuming-looking dude who went from the 199th pick in the league’s 2000 draft to beyond otherworldly was better than Bronko Nagurski, Brett Favre, Red Grange, Peyton Manning, Gayle Sayers, Otto Graham, Ray Lewis, Don Hutson, Brett Favre, Dick Butkus, Mean Joe Greene, Johnny Unitas, Reggie White, Bart Starr, Walter Payton, Lawrence Taylor, Barry Sanders and Jerry Rice.

Brady was even better than Montana, otherwise known as “Joe Cool,” or as “The Comeback Kid,” or as Brady’s childhood idol while growing up in northern California, or as the first three-time winner of the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Award, or as the owner of the highest passer ratinng in Super Bowl history at 127.8 while throwing more touchdown passes than anybody in Super Bowls without an interception, or as the most clutch performer of his time.

Remember The Throw and The Catch, when Montana triggered a dynasty for his San Francisco 49ers?

That happened during a 49ers’ home game after the 1981 season in the NFC Championship Game, when Montana connected with Dwight Clark in the back of a Candlestick Park end zone for the game-winning touchdown.

True confession: As somebody who was born and raised in South Bend, Indiana, home of the University of Notre Dame, I bleed blue and gold. Montana had more than a few miracles for the Fighting Irish, and he led them to the 1977 national championship. I also covered the first half of his sprint to the Pro Football Hall of Fame up close and personal when I worked for the San Francisco Examiner during the 1980s.

It’s just that Brady is that guy for all time.

Remember 28-3?

Consider, too, that ProFootballReference.com has a category called “NFL Fourth Quarter Comebacks Career Leaders,” and it goes back to 1960. While Manning is No. 1 at 43, Brady is just behind at 42.

Montana?

He’s 15th at 26.

Yes, Brady lost a bunch of Super Bowls — well, relatively speaking, when compared to Montana — but he won a record seven of them.

Speaking of records, no quarterback in NFL history ever topped Brady during a career in touchdown passes, passing yards, regular-season victories, Super Bowl MVP honors (five) and Pro Bowl selections (15).

Here’s another record thing: Montana held the mark forever for most NFL playoff victories with 16, but now he’s second behind Brady.

Brady has 35, including that time in February 2017 when his Patriots trailed the Atlanta Falcons 28-3 in a Super Bowl, and the Falcons didn’t win.

Sorry, Joe.

And congratulations, Tom.