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How NFL history would change if Bears, not 49ers, drafted Joe Montana

Joe Montana led the 49ers to four Super Bowl titles, becoming one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time along the way.

The tandem of Montana and legendary head coach Bill Walsh is one of the most successful pairings in sports history, along the lines of Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick and Derek Jeter and Joe Torre.

But Montana almost didn't call the Bay home. In a story chronicling the Chicago Bears' decades-long search for a franchise quarterback, The Athletic's Dan Pompei notes the Bears planned on taking Montana in the third round of the 1979 draft.