Who is better, Montana or Smith?
Joe Montana leads with a GOAT score of 88.7 against 88.7 for Steve Smith Sr — a gap of 0.0 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Montana vs Smith
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently scores Joe Montana and Steve Smith Sr level at 88.7. Joe Montana leads on Honours, Dominance. Steve Smith Sr leads on Longevity, Statistics, Peak.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
MontanaWinner
88.7Montana wins: Dominance, Honours
Smith
88.7Smith wins: Peak, Longevity, Statistics
Candidates
Locked to American FootballShareable URL · /compare/joe-montana-vs-steve-smith-sr
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇺🇸 Joe Montana
88.7
Montana leads in 2 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Joe Montana
2. Steve Smith Sr
Category breakdown
Season form · Form index per season
Career timeline · Form index per season
Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.
GOAT pace tracker
Career stage · GOAT pace
Through season 5 · Form index per season1. 🇺🇸 Steve Smith Sr5 seasons played · career day 1,8252,723 touchdowns
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇺🇸 Joe Montana5 seasons played · career day 2,191105 touchdowns
-96.1% vs Smith at the same stage
| Ghost race · career day | 30 | 100 | 365 | 1000 | 1825 | 3650 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 Montana | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 77 | 171 |
| 🇺🇸 Smith | 0 | 0 | 154 | 208 | 2,723 | 7,294 |
Careers are aligned from debut; the first 5 season periods are measured against the same career window.
| Metric | MontanaRetired | SmithRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Super Bowl titles | 4 | — |
| Super Bowl MVP | 3 | — |
| MVP awards | 2 | — |
| Pro Bowls | 8 | 5 |
| Passing yards | 40,551 | — |
| Touchdown passes | 273 | — |
| Career receiving yards | — | 14,731 |
| Receiving triple crowns | — | 1 |
| Career receptions | — | 1,031 |
| Receiving touchdowns | — | 81 |
| Dominance w25% | 89 | 84 |
| Peak w20% | 93 | 94 |
| Longevity w20% | 82 | 90 |
| Honours w20% | 91 | 84 |
| Statistics w15% | 88 | 94 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Montana88.7
Smith88.7
FAQ
Where does Smith beat Montana?
Smith scores higher on peak, statistics, longevity. Montana leads on dominance, honours.
How is the Montana vs Smith score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Montana: 88.7, Smith: 88.7.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Montana vs Smith. The scoring is published in full — if you can point at the pillar or the weight you disagree with, we read it. Read the methodology paper.