What Can Tom Brady Learn from Joe Montana's Time with Chiefs?
Growing up, Tom Brady was a California kid who idolized the legendary San Francisco 49ers quarterback, Joe Montana.
Now that Brady is switching teams after a dominant 20-year career with the New England Patriots, he can look to the blueprint provided by Montana when it comes to changing teams after an historic run with one franchise.
As SI's Conor Orr details in his latest daily cover story, Montana wasted little time making sure his new Kansas City Chiefs teammates knew he was just one of the guys, and not some untouchable figure:
Montana did not barrel into his new locker room in Kansas City, but integrated himself slowly through a series of small gestures. Grunhard said that Montana was the first and only quarterback he saw to take the blame for a botched QB-center exchange. Montana would spend the week after wins taking his teammates out to dinner, position group by position group, to thank them for keeping him upright.
Small gestures were one way Montana acclimated to a new locker room and a new group of teammates, but he also had a flair for grandiose practical jokes:
During a game plan installation early in the season, Schottenheimer stopped a meeting when the team arrived at short-yardage and goal-line situations and took the team out on the field to practice live. The offensive staff was dialed in, frantically lining up the first play when everyone realized that the quarterback was nowhere to be found.
Montana had somehow managed to slide out of the belly of Arrowhead Stadium, climbing up the steps armed with a water balloon cannon and a stockpile of ammunition. “You have to do things like that,” (offensive coordinator Paul) Hackett says. “I’ll bet that, heading into that practice, I was taking things too seriously. And then, one of the first people he hit with a balloon was me. So how am I going to react?
All of those things were helpful, but what really won over Montana's new team was the same thing that won him so much hardware in San Francisco: Making himself just as accountable for his mistakes as anyone else on the team, and his ability to deliver in the game's biggest moments, and to make everyone around him believe in their own ability to deliver in those moments, too:
Sacks were his fault. So were interceptions and drops. Offensive linemen felt like his kids, far more wary of disappointing dad than getting screamed at. They developed a way to check on each other on Mondays after games. One member of the crew would sheepishly ask the quarterback whether, after meetings, he’d be able to go out and play a round of golf. A yes would indicate that the protection was satisfactory the day before. A no would be the nicest possible way Montana could say “get your s--- together.”
Once a comfort level was established, Montana was able to solidify his hold on the locker room by acting as the player representative during Schottenheimer’s most tyrannical moments. The interplay between Montana and Schottenheimer was something of a ballet, with the coach knowing he needed to cede some power to the quarterback and Montana knowing he needed to advocate for his teammates without overstepping any boundaries.
Brady will face similar challenges in Tampa Bay, albeit with some unique ones amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the most unusual offseason and training camp experience the NFL has ever had.
But he won't have to look far for inspiration when it comes to navigating the challenges of leading a new locker room. He'll find it in the same place, the same person, the same quarterback, to whom he's always looked for an example of how to achieve excellence at the highest level, at the game's most important position.
