NFL: 30 greatest seasons from players 30 and older
By Tommy Jaggi
42. . QB. San Francisco 49ers. Joe Montana. 30. player
NFL: 30 greatest seasons from players 30 and older: 30. Joe Montana, 1989
It wasn’t easy comprising some of the final spots on this list, as there were some spectacular single-season performances by players 30 years old and older who fell just short of making it. However, there’s no doubt that Joe Montana’s 1989 season deserves to be on this list. At 34-years-old, Montana did some things that were unheard of for a quarterback in the 1980s.
Playing 13 games in ’89, Montana led the best team in football to an 11-2 record that included 26 touchdown passes to just eight interceptions. While these numbers may seem pedestrian compared to modern-day quarterbacks, it’s important to consider that 23 players threw for more passes in 2020 alone – three of which threw over 600 passes last year.
What Montana did with his opportunities, however, was impressive as he led the NFL in both yards per attempt (9.1), completion percentage (70.2%), touchdown percentage (6.7%), and quarterback rating (112.4), according to Pro Football Reference. Considering that he did all of this while being one of the oldest starting quarterbacks in the league is quite the accomplishment.
Montana would eventually float back down to earth after suffering a severe elbow injury that hindered his play late in his career, but his impressive play during his age-34 season in 1989 resulted in a Super Bowl win for the San Francisco 49ers and will be remembered in history forever.