Joe Montana has long been heralded as one of, if not the, greatest quarterback in NFL history, but football fans of three different generations agree that Tom Brady, not Montana, is even better.
SeniorLiving.org recently polled more than 500 Baby Boomers, Millennials and Generation Xers, and each generation in the study agreed that Brady, the six-time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots quarterback, is the greatest NFL player of all time.
The three generations did not agree on a second-place player, with Gen Xers voting for Montana, Baby Boomers voting for Jim Brown and Millennials voting for Emmitt Smith, but all three said they would choose Brady over Montana if given the choice between the two legendary quarterbacks. Fifty-eight percent of both Baby Boomers and Gen Xers polled said the Pats star is better than the longtime San Francisco 49ers signal-caller, while a whopping 69 percent of Millennials polled preferred Brady over Montana.
Besides Brady, former Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton is the only other player to appear in all three generations' lists of top five NFL players of all time:
| Baby Boomers | Gen Xers | Millennials |
|---|---|---|
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|
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2. Jim Brown | 2. Joe Montana | 2. Emmitt Smith |
3. Joe Montana | 3. Walter Payton | 3. Joe Montana |
4. Jerry Rice | 4. Jim Brown | 4. Jerry Rice |
5. Walter Payton | 5. Dan Marino | 5. Walter Payton |
Interestingly enough, the surveyed Baby Boomers and Millennials agreed on four out of their top five all-time players, ranking Brady, Montana, Rice and Payton at the same positions. The Gen Xers were the only ones to include Dan Marino in the top five.
As for the best teams of all time, all three generations agreed that the 1985 Chicago Bears, who won Super Bowl XX with one of the league's most feared defenses, were the best to ever play the game. Baby Boomers voted for the 2007 New England Patriots, who went 16-0 but famously lost Super Bowl XLII, as the second-best team of all time, while Millennials and Gen Xers said the 2018 Patriots, who won the sixth Lombardi Trophy in franchise history, are No. 2. The 1972 Miami Dolphins, who finished 14-0 and also won the Super Bowl, were ranked third-best of all time by both Millennials and Gen Xers.
| Baby Boomers | Generation Xers | Millennials |
|---|---|---|
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|
|
2. 2007 Patriots | 2. 2018 Patriots | 2. 2018 Patriots |
3. 1993 Cowboys | 3. 1972 Dolphins | 3. 1972 Dolphins |
4. 1986 Bears | 4. 2007 Patriots | 4. 2017 Patriots |
5. 1979 Steelers | 5. 1967 Packers | 5. 2007 Patriots |
As for the top NFL head coach of all time, Millennials and Gen Xers agreed that Patriots legend Bill Belichick deserves that honor. Baby Boomers, meanwhile, voted for the Green Bay Packers' Vince Lombardi as the best to ever roam the sidelines.
