I can relate a bit to the author. I began following the NFL in the late 80s, when I was a teenager. At that time, the 49ers were the current dynasty in the league and there were plenty of articles about their place in history, how great Bill Walsh and Joe Montana were and all of Montana's comeback wins. In part because I wasn't a 49ers fan, the Patriots weren't nearly as successful and had no one comparable at QB, I grew to hate Montana and rooted against him.
Some of these may sound familiar to the comments we hear now about Brady, but I remember watching a Niners game with friends, someone complimented a play that Montana made and I snapped back "It's just the system!"
It also seemed like opponents played dumb or didn't play to win against SF. I don't remember the specifics anymore, but I recall a team driving late in a game against the Niners with a chance to tie or win. They got a first down and lined up to spike the ball to stop the clock. Somehow, the QB didn't properly spike the ball, it was ruled a fumble, the 49ers recovered and won. I don't know if I've ever seen anything like that since. By "didn't play to win," I mean that teams didn't want to take the steps necessary to beat SF. For example, on their first possession, the 49ers took the ball and scored a TD. The opposing team responded with a good drive, but stalled in the red zone with a 4th and short. They kicked a FG and the 49ers responded with another TD and the game was basically over at 14-3. Opposing coaches, knowing how good SF was, still played conservatively and settled for a FGs instead of trying to match them with a TD and putting pressure on Niners.
Any set back for the 49ers was a positive for me. Any time Montana failed to bring his team back put a spring in my step. I was very pleased when Leonard Marshall delivered a blindside hit on Montana in the 1990 NFCCG.
As the years went by and I watched more football, I came to realize that it wasn't a system or luck or coaching or dumb opponents that made Montana successful. He was great because he was one of the best to ever play the game. It was my emotional view of him and his team that prevented me from seeing that.
In my situation, this all happened before message boards, social media and a sports media driven by contrarian or outrageous opinions. If I could have gone to a website that detailed why Montana was really mediocre or listened to a radio host who maintained that he was product of a system, I might have needed to watch a practice live to realize I was wrong.
