What if Joe Montana had gone against the Cowboys instead of Steve Young during the rivalry

Prime Montana or KC Montana?

This is a dumb question. Steve young was the mvp in 1992.

In 94, he won the mvp again and they won the super bowl. His 94 season is arguably the gold standard for a qb, outside the last 15 years or so when the entire league went insane with the passing stats.

Swapping in Montana would do nothing. You could argue peak young is better than peak Montana.

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The 49ers gave up 30 points and over 400 yards to the Cowboys in the '92 NFC Championship Game

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The Cowboys had 1 yard more than the 49ers, both had 24 first downs. It was a 4 point game heading into the 4th quarter.

The difference was the 49ers had 4 turnovers, Young was responsible for a few of them.

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What if Joe Montana had gone against the Cowboys instead of Steve Young during the rivalry

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Depends on Joe's health and level of play at the time, he enters those games playing at an elite level and continues that, they win (see 88 and 89 playoffs), he enters those games at a weak level (see 85 and 86 playoffs) they lose and probably get embarrassed then there's the aberration of the 87 divisional game against the Vikings where he stunk up the joint, 87 49ers one of the all-time great teams not to win the Super Bowl

Nobody is beating the '92 Cowboys.

Plus, if you watch the America's Game doc on the 1988 Niners, Walsh had worn out his welcome in the locker room and the 1989 season was to show they could win it without him per the player's words.

And they went gangbusters.

The real debate is whether Young did less with more or Montana did more with less.

Young had some loaded teams but standing in his way was one of the best dynasties of all-time.

Well we should all aspire to be a system qb. Dumb name anyway

Niners would have went 0-3. Montana was at the very end of his career. And he didn't have Brady's "nutritionist".

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The difference was the 49ers had 4 turnovers, Young was responsible for a few of them.

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The Cowboys scored zero points off those two Young turnovers, one of which came at the end of the game when the 49ers were down by 10 points and in desperation mode. If Young didn’t commit any turnovers, it still wouldn’t have changed the result of the game. Let me give you a stat about Montana and Young that might open your eyes. Young started 13 postseason games for the 49ers. The 49ers allowed more than 24 points in six of those games. Montana started in 23 career postseason games. His defenses allowed more than 24 points in only five of those 23 games.

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Young started 13 postseason games for the 49ers. The 49ers allowed more than 24 points in six of those games. Montana started in 23 career postseason games. His defenses allowed more than 24 points in only five of those 23 games.

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Stats lie as usual.

Giving up 24 points between 1980-1988 is way worse than giving up 24 points between 1990-1994.

That stat doesn't remotely prove that Montana had better defenses in the playoffs than Young. You basically stunk in the 90's if you didn't score 24 points...not so for the early to mid-80's.