Joe Montana wanted to be a Steeler, but Steelers preferred Neil O'Donnell

[SteelCrazy]

You may have heard of this quarterback by the name of*Joe Montana. His storied tenure as the signal caller for the San Francisco 49ers is one of the greatest stories about a quarterback in NFL history.

His time in a Niners uniform was cut short when*Steve Young*came to town and the team opted to ship him to Kansas City. It was a trade that Montana orchestrated; but Kansas City wasn’t at the top of his list for trade destinations. That honor would go to the Pittsburgh Steelers. But on The*Dan Patrick*Show recently, Montana raised a few eyebrows when he explained why Pittsburgh said no.

Montana, asked about Pittsburgh said:*“Oh yeah. I tried to go there before, when I was looking at Kansas City, and they said no. I think O’Donnell was stil there.”
Patrick:*“Wait, Steelers said no because they had Neil O’Donnell?”
Montana: “Yeah, Neil O’Donnell.”

Really, Pittsburgh? Passing up one of the all-time greats for Neil O’Donnell? Sounds pretty crazy to me.

[url]http://live.drjays.com/index.php/2012/12/13/joe-montana-says-he-wanted-to-be-a-pittsburgh-steeler-but-neil-odonnell-got-in-the-way/[/url]

[Ghost]

Read that today as well: [URL]http://arrowheadaddict.com/2012/12/11/joe-montana-wanted-to-go-to-steelers-over-chiefs/[/URL]

Montana said - " It would have been fun to play for them, finish off your career back at home. That would have been fun. And they had a pretty good team, too. That was the other part of it."

[RuthlessBurgher]

Montana was 37 years old when he left S.F. for K.C. He only played 2 years there before retiring. Would Montana in his late 30's have been better than a decade-younger O'Donnell? Their numbers for those 2 seasons are pretty darned close.

Montana in 1993: 181-298, 60.7%, 2144 yards, 13 TD, 7 INT
Montana in 1994: 299-493, 60.6%, 3283 yards, 16 TD, 9 INT

O'Donnell in 1993: 270-486, 55.6%, 3208 yards, 14 TD, 7 INT
O'Donnell in 1994: 212-370, 57.3%, 2443 yards, 13 TD, 9 INT

Plus, remember that we went to the Super Bowl with O'Donnell the year after Montana retired.

Sure, we lost a playoff game to Montana's Chiefs in overtime, but it wasn't because Montana outplayed O'Donnell in that game:

Neil O'Donnell 23-42, 286 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT
Joe Montana 28-43, 276 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT

[Gus]

Not so crazy really. It cost the Chiefs safety David Whitmore and a 1994 3rd round pick for 2 years of Montana's services. Montana was 37 years old by the beginning of the '93 season. O'Donnell was 27.
The #s put up by both QBs during the 1993 and 1994 seasons were fairly comparable.
I understand wanting to have seen Montana in black and gold, but I don't think we lost out on much there.

[Slapstick]

Not so far fetched...

Montana was clearly at the end of his career in 1993 and 1994, the two years that he played in KC...

Side-by-side, here's how it looks for those two years between O'Donnell and Montana:

O'Donnell: 26 starts - 856 attempts - 458 completions - 53.5% - 5651 yards - 27 TDs - 16 INTs - 6.6 YpA - 76.9 Rtg - 19-10 record as starter - 1-2 in playoffs
Montana: 25 starts - 791 attempts - 480 completions - 60.6% - 5427 yards - 29 TDs - 16 INTs - 6.9 YpA - 85 Rtg - 17-8 record as a starter - 2-2 in playoffs

Of course, one of those playoff victories for Montana was vs Pittsburgh...

Also, could Montana have led the game winning drive in the 1994 AFCC against San Diego where O'Donnell got so close but failed to do so?

Cowher was still a young coach at that point and perhaps didn't want to deal with the addition of a Montana to the team he was trying to build...who knows?

[feltdizz]

O'Donnell was good before the SB collapse... but he threw a lot of balls high over the middle that got our WR's popped. If we had Montana I'm pretty sure we would have seen better production and it was mission impossible for the guy to throw an INT in the playoffs.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Not so crazy really. It cost the Chiefs safety David Whitmore and a 1994 3rd round pick for 2 years of Montana's services. Montana was 37 years old by the beginning of the '93 season. O'Donnell was 27.
The #s put up by both QBs during the 1993 and 1994 seasons were fairly comparable.
I understand wanting to have seen Montana in black and gold, but I don't think we lost out on much there.

Actually, the Chiefs received Montana, David Whitmore and a 1994 3rd round pick from the Niners.

In exchange, the Niners got the 18th overall pick in the 1993 draft from the Chiefs.

No way I'd give up a first round pick for a 37 year old who had only played 1 game in the previous 2 seasons.

[Slapstick]

Actually, the Chiefs received Montana, David Whitmore and a 1994 3rd round pick from the Niners.

In exchange, the Niners got the 18th overall pick in the 1993 draft from the Chiefs.

No way I'd give up a first round pick for a 37 year old who had only played 1 game in the previous 2 seasons.

We would have missed out on Deon Figures...

[Oviedo]

Cowher also wanted Shawn Andrews for OT over Big Ben. So much for his opinion.

[RuthlessBurgher]

We would have missed out on Deon Figures...

Figures might have developed into a quality player if he hadn't been shot in the leg through his car door.