H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY, USA TODAY via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Joe Montana wanted to play for the Lions in the 90's, but the Lions said no

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Mike Payton | Last updated 11/20/23

Get ready to rip your hair out. The Detroit Lions of the 90's were a quarterback away from doing big things. They had a chance to have a really good one and they said no.

Going into the 1993 season, the Lions had Rodney Peete, Andre Ware and Erik Kramer. Things kind of worked out. The Lions won the NFC Central and made it to the playoffs.

Things could have been totally different though. The Lions could have had Hall of Famer Joe Montana instead. According to Lions legend' Barry Sanders, Montana really wanted to play for the Lions and went as far as to call the Lions to try to get traded there.

Sanders was on the Pat McAfee Show on Monday and McAfee gave a little sneak peak at the Bye Bye Barry documentary that's going to be hitting Amazon Prime on Tuesday. This nugget is apparently in that documentary and Sanders confirmed it.

Everything tracks with this. The 49ers really wanted to move on to Steve Young after Montana missed the 1991 season and much of the 1992 season with an injury and Young stepped in and showed what he could do. Montana did play his last 49ers game against the Lions and he went 15-21 for 126 yards and two touchdowns in just one half of football.

The Lions were a year separated from making it to the NFC Championship game and a lot of offensive weapons. So Montana asked to be traded to Detroit. The Lions turned Montana down because they felt he was too old and was just coming off an injury. Montana wound up getting traded to the Chiefs and would lead them to the AFC Championship game that season. He retired after another playoff season in 1994.

The Lions moved on from every quarterback they had on the roster in 1993 and signed Dan Marino's backup Scott Mitchell after he had a few good games in Miami. What could have been right?

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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