Nov 19, 2022

There’s a reason our highest accolade is named after a single player. 

Joe Montana is a four-time Super Bowl winner, five-time NFL MVP and eight-time Pro-Bowler. He embodies success and consistency. Montana was relentless in San Francisco starting at least 13 games in 10 of his 12 seasons leading up to 1990. He was the foundational cornerstone of a true dynasty and showed no signs or slowing down heading into the new decade.

The 49ers entered the 1990 NFL season as favorites to win it all and delivered on those expectations. After going 14-2 in the regular season, San Francisco stormed through the playoffs winning each game by at least 27 points, culminating in an annihilation of Denver in SBXXIV 55-10. Montana was spectacular that night in the Superdome throwing for nearly 300 yards and five touchdowns. He had now reached the NFL’s peak five times and cemented himself as one of the best to ever do it. At 34 years old, when could he possibly start to slow down?

The answer came a lot sooner than he or anyone would have guessed. A preseason elbow injury in the fall of 1991 ended up developing into a much larger issue than originally expected. It would eventually cause Joe Cool to miss the entire NFL season as well as a bulk of the 1992 year. During his absence, the 49er faithful were introduced to lefty Steve Young who stole San Francisco’s heart and inadvertently found a replacement for Montana before he was even ready to throw in the towel. Joe would go on to leave the Bay Area for Kansas City in 1993 and have some decent success before his eventual retirement just two years into his Chiefs tenure in 1995. 

Things went from 60 to 0 real quick for Montana who’s fall from grace happened in the blink of an eye. He went from Super Bowl MVP to injured cast away in less than 18 months. Nothing is guaranteed in this league, and unfortunately number 16 ended up being an injury away from replacement. 

You could argue Montana’s legacy will last forever, but did his career die on that field in New Orleans in 1990? It’s so unfair that a random hit leading to an elbow contusion 6 months later would cue all of this and effectively show Joe the door. I doubt he ever saw that coming, but it did. He had no control over that situation and had to watch helplessly as it unfolded right in front of him. 

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Ghosts, moon landings, Austin making the playoffs; who’s to say if these things are actually real? Regardless, they are fun to talk about. It’s the unknown, the mystery, that personifies the intrigue. So if you’re gonna believe, you gotta believe hard. All in. And that’s what I’m here to do. So if you want to join me, run to the kitchen and grab some foil as we unpack what could just be Joe’s revenge on the football world at large.

The Montana Curse is real. 

I’m here to relay a shocking discovery that has been casting an eerie shadow on the FCS since its inception. Cool Joe lost all control of his career after his MVP season ended in 1990. Since that unfortunate time, his quarterback spirit has sunk its teeth into our annual Most Valuable Player away after it was named after him specifically. Our intent was to honor that legacy, but instead it became a lasting host of what could have been. Montana’s football spirit now lives to destroy, allowing fate to choose its next victim.

You see, Joe Cool has no specific vendettas. He doesn’t care who is put in front of him. He is satisfied to sit back and let the chips fall where they may. It’s the aftermath he’s concerned with. Once the votes are tallied and a new FCS MVP is awarded, he swoops in like the buttery forty-yard dimes he used to drop down the sideline to Jerry Rice. 

The Montana Curse is Joe’s way of wreaking havoc on the stars of today who reach the FCS pinnacle. Once you are invited into the elite, he attacks. Not always the same way, not always aggressively, but he attacks. Sometimes it’s more blatant and other times subtle, but the important thing to take away is that it’s always there. Don’t believe me? Already scoffing? Well let’s take a trip through our fabled history to see just how real the Montana Curse is.

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It’s 2016. All we were at that time was a ragtag group of strangers with some logos and uniforms to our names. No history, trends or lore to fall back on. One of the few things that we did know at that time was that sophomore running back David Johnson was the real deal. Powder City’s RB1 dominated in our inaugural season scoring 329 points on the year, the most of any player. Looking back now, it’s one of only two occurrences where a non-QB can boast that. Johnson won MVP unanimously becoming the first player ever to win the coveted award. Brown, fresh off a Victor Bowl title, locked Johnson up and cemented what would become the most loyal player / owner relationship this league has ever seen. Unfortunately for the Riflemen, Johnson would never return to his inaugural eliteness.

The following year, Montana saw his first opportunity to strike and he wasted no time at all. Johnson went down in week 1 and never saw the field again that year. Joe Cool used his first curse to take down Johnson in an eerily similar way that he himself went down 16 years prior. Unlike Montana, though, Johnson would return in 2018 to have a decent season as he regained his starting role and finished in the top 10 for RBs. Despite the response, Montana did exactly what he sought out to do as he struck down our first most valuable player to send an early message of his power. 

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We might have made things a little too easy on the spirit of Montana for this one. I honestly can’t fully remember how Carson Wentz locked down our second MVP award, but he got the votes. Once this was finalized, Joe was on the case. Wentz’s 2018 campaign was a sour one to say the least. He went from QB2 (297 fantasy points) to QB22 (197 points). Although Wentz remained a Riflemen that year, he would lose his starting job to Cam Newton and eventually bounced around the league to this day, never finding a stable FCS home again.

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It’s now time to move in to 2018 and arguably our most divisive MVP race in league history. This campaign would define the “QB v RB” fight that we would see for years to come. Which is more valuable? Should the QB position be handicapped for having a higher floor? Should an RB really be more highly touted despite scoring fewer points? It’s all subjective. What isn’t subjective is that Todd Gurley won out and squeezed past Patrick Mahomes to bring home the 2018 MVP for the Anarchy.

From there, Montana would strike and he struck hard. Gurley went into 2019 as an established bell cow that just raked in fantasy points. Despite playing one more game than he did in his MVP season the year prior, Gurley would drop an entire yard in his YPC rate and score seven less touchdowns. He dropped from RB1 to RB18. That wouldn’t be the worst of it though. Gurley would continue to drop off as Montana worked overtime to ensure he would never return to MVP form again. The back’s health would deteriorate over the next few years as he played his last NFL snap in 2020, just 2 years removed from being the best player in the league. This would be the crown jewel of the Montana Curse.

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Just a year later we get part two of the great “QB v RB” debate. Had the league cemented its claim on the matter and declared running backs superior? Lamar Jackson erupted for 392 that season for the second-year IceCats, topping the previous record for points in a season by Patrick Mahomes (370). Right behind him, however, was Christian McCaffrey, doing the same by posting an incredible 383 points. Both were incredibly deserving, but only one could win the award. Jackson would scrape out a victory and win, making him the 3rd FCS MVP to also win a Victor Bowl in the same season.

What came next was pretty shocking. Joe struck Lamar when he seemed at the top of his game with limitless potential. Jackson had blown up the FCS, showing what a dual threat QB with his kind talent could do. So how do you explain his plunge in 2020? Jackson fell back down to earth in a huge way as his total points dropped 120 points and he finished as QB14. Injuries? New coaching situation? Nope. Just a disappointing year with no explanation. Well, no explanation until now. Joe Cool always gets the last laugh.

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Patrick Mahomes has had a very tumultuous career in the FCS. On paper, he’s arguably been the most sought after quarterback in league history. He has set the RFA benchmark for what it takes to bring in a top dollar signal caller. When you have everything in front of you, however, the total numbers tell a different story. 

Mahomes burst onto the scene with Ottawa in 2018 and skyrocketed all the way to the top, finishing as the top point getter in the league that season. A drawn-out MVP debate, as you know, left Mahomes on the outside looking in as Gurley won out by just a few votes. Mahomes stayed in Ottawa the following year but struggled during a tough Braves season as he endured a sophomore slump. In 2020, Patrick would stay loyal as he moved with new ownership from Ottawa to Virginia Beach. 

That decision proved to be the right one as he once again soared to the top of the leaderboard and staked his claim for that year’s Most Valuable Player. Looking back, it’s easy to forget that down the stretch this was actually Kyler Murray’s award to loss, and he did so in great fashion. Murray was unable to put up double digit points with a lottery-bound Outlaw team in the final week of the regular season while Mahomes netted 38 in a win that sent the Rovers to the playoffs.

That would cement it for QB1 as he finally snagged an FCS MVP. From there, things would not come so easy. The next year saw Mahomes take a strange step back as the spirit of Montana pounced. First, he was traded to Nashville to lead a Riflemen team that, like him, was aiming to repeat past glory. His tenor in Powder City would prove to be short-lived as he was traded to the PNW after week 3. Through 4 weeks, all was well as Mahomes was on pace to once again finish as the QB1 in the league, but that’s when things started to drop off. Mahomes’ shift out west proved to be more difficult than original expected as he failed to score over 30 points until week 10, including an 8-point outing during that stretch. The Montana Curse pressed in such an odd way this year, interfering with Mahomes’ play without injuries or any sign of concern. He just didn’t feel the same as he finished the year as QB7 and no longer felt like that consistent point getter we knew from the past.

So far in 2022, Mahomes has felt more like his old self. He is back in Virginia Beach after an offseason trade with Portland and is currently the QB2 in our league nipping as Josh Allen’s tail. 

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Last but not least, we have the Montana Curse striking our top point getter in league history. Jonathan Taylor took a little but longer to take off than the average rookie, but when he did, he shot himself all the way up the totem pole. JT had hardly any eyes on him through four week of the 2021 season, but an early trade to Tucson might have been the difference maker. Taylor exploded onto the scene and ended up shattering Lamar Jackson’s record for most points scored in an FCS season, becoming the first player to ever score over 400 points. His 424 points were nearly 100 more than the second best RB that season (Joe Mixon :: 330 points). Taylor found himself in a real battle for MVP as The Bronx’s Cooper Kupp rewrote the record books for receivers. After a heavy weight battle, Taylor came out on top and brought home the first MVP award in Javelina history. 

Coming in to 2022, Jonathan Taylor was expected to pick up right where he left off in Tucson, but the curse had other ideas. Injuries and poor line play prevented JT from really taking off at all. He was rarely on the field, and when he was, he just felt off, failing to hit holes and explode through the line like we saw the year prior. It just wasn’t the same guy. JT still has a abundance of potential to be a top tier RB moving forward, but clearly isn’t as invincible as we once thought. Taylor is hoping a move to the nation’s capital can help get him back on track and secure is spot as one of the best in the FCS.

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If six different instances of foul play doesn’t convince you, I don’t know what will. The 1991 ghost of Joe Montana haunts this league and you could be next. We all strive to win FCS hardware, but at what cost? The next time you get the news that your star pulled the votes to bring home the Most Valuable Player award, don’t forget that Joe Cool is lingering behind you. He’s done it before and he’ll do it again. You can’t escape it.