Super Bowl LIV will be a matchup between two franchises with little in common aside from their near-identical Pantone color schemes.
The five-time champion San Francisco 49ers are making their seventh Super Bowl appearance and their second in seven years; the Kansas City Chiefs have won just one Lombardi Trophy and did so before it was even called the Lombardi Trophy, back during the 1969 season. San Francisco and Kansas City have never played each other in the postseason and have faced off just 13 times in the regular season; the 49ers have a one-game lead in the head-to-head.
The two organizations share nary a history, except from one small, well, big exception: Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana.
Montana is the most prominent player to have played for both the 49ers and Chiefs during his career. He was selected by San Francisco in the third round of the 1979 draft and over 13 years in the Bay Area led San Francisco to a 100-39 regular-season record and four Super Bowl appearances and established himself as arguably the greatest quarterback of all-time. But Montana finished his career in Kansas City where he spent the 1993 and 1994 seasons, twice leading the Chiefs to the playoffs and once reaching an AFC title game.
Joe Cool is remembered for his iconic excellence in San Francisco but did enough in Kansas City to establish a legacy there, as well.
Montana will be the center of media attention over the next two weeks as his two former teams prep to duke it out in the Super Bowl. But as of Monday night, the 63-year-old quarterback, who was in attendance in Santa Clara for the 49ers' Divisional Round win over the Minnesota Vikings and in Kansas City last year for the Chiefs' loss in the AFC title game, isn't letting on as to where his allegiances lie.
"It's hard to pick between," Montana told Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times. "Yeah, we live here in San Francisco, so there's a little bit of a different feel, just because you don't have that touch with Kansas City all the time. But there's a place in my heart for them both. Kansas City was so good and accepting of us coming in there. It's not easy, and there's a lot of expectation.
"But like (my wife) Jen says, I'm guaranteed my team will win."
Montana has two weeks to decide who to root for-slash-milk this publicity for all it's worth; the QB told Farmer that he plans to be in Miami during Super Bowl week and will stay for the Big Game.
The quarterback's not the only big-name player to have played for S.F. and K.C.; Alex Smith, Elvis Grbac, Steve Bono and current 49ers defensive end Dee Ford come to mind. But Montana's the name that comes to everyone's mind first.
Now if only Montana could make up his own before the game kicks off.
