San Francisco 49ers: Ranking the 10 Best Quarterbacks in Franchise History

Oct 16, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers former quarterback Joe Montana cheers before game five of the 2014 NLCS playoff between the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

1. Joe Montana

Can there be any real debate here with this ranking? “Joe Cool” Montana spent 14 seasons with the 49ers, finishing with a record of 100-39-0, which is an incredible 71.9 percent winning percentage. He holds every major QB record in franchise history.

Montana had the innate ability to remain calm under pressure. Over his career he engineered 31 fourth-quarter come-from-behind wins. Montana lifted his game even more when the playoffs arrived.

In his defining 1982 NFC Championship Game, he threw the most memorable pass in 49ers history to tight end Dwight Clark, which beat the Dallas Cowboys, simply known as “The Catch”. Then in Super Bowl XXIII against the Cincinnati Bengals, Montana led a 92-yard drive to a game-winning TD to wide receiver John Taylor.

Montana holds the QB franchise records for wins (100), yards (35,124) ,TD passes (244), career pass attempts (4,600), career pass completions (2,929) and Super Bowl wins (4). He still holds the NFL record for most postseason games with a QB rating over 100.0 (12). He also won two MVP awards, three Super Bowl MVP awards and eight All-Pro nominations. His No. 16 jersey was retired in 1997 and he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000.

Montana is the clear No. 1 QB in franchise history, and arguably the greatest QB that has ever played in the history of the NFL. There will never be another Joe Montana. Current and future 49ers QBs have very large shoes to fill.

Next: San Francisco 49ers: The All-Time Team

All statistics, records and accolades courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com and ESPN.com unless otherwise indicated.