The game was hyped as the battle between two great quarterbacks: Montana and Miami's Dan Marino. The two teams combined for 851 total offensive yards, and both QBs threw for over 300 yards, but it was Montana who completed 24 of 35 passes for a Super Bowl-record 331 yards and three touchdowns. He also broke the Super Bowl record for most rushing yards gained by a quarterback with 5 rushes for 59 yards and a touchdown.

Early in his NFL career, the San Francisco Chronicle held a nickname contest for Montana. The winner was "Big Sky", but another contestant suggested that since "Joe Montana" already sounded like a nickname, Montana needed a real name, and christened him "David W. Gibson". Montana liked the Gibson name so much that he had it stenciled above his locker.

He was offered a basketball scholarship to North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina, but instead went to the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, to play collegiate football. In his senior year, he led the team to a Cotton Bowl victory.

While a member of the 49ers, Montana won four Super Bowls and was the first player ever to be named Super Bowl MVP three times. He also holds the all-time highest career passer rating in Super Bowl history: 127.8.

In 1986, doctors diagnosed Montana as having a narrow spinal cavity, which led to a severe back injury during week one of the 1986 season. Despite doctors urging him to retire, Montana elected to have an operation, which was successful, and he was able to return to football and continue his career.

Montana missed the entire 1991 season and most of the 1992 season with an elbow injury. In the final game of the 1992 regular season--a Monday Night Football matchup against the Detroit Lions--Montana stepped in and played the entire second half. Despite missing nearly two full seasons, he proved to be very effective, sealing the victory with "insurance points". By this time, however, Steve Young had cemented himself as the starter and took over for the playoffs.

In 1993, Montana was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs for his final two seasons. He led that franchise to its first AFC Championship Game in January 1994.

When Montana retired, his career passer rating was 92.3, second only to his 49er successor Steve Young (96.8).

He is the only NFL player to have two touchdown passes of 95+ yards.

In four Super Bowl games (and 122 pass attempts), Montana never threw an interception in the big game.