The Nfl

SEASON OF SEASONS

To call Joe Montana's numbers this season striking is to do them an injustice. Call them historic. The highest quarterback rating ever in the NFL belongs to Milt Plum, who finished with a 110.4 for the Browns in 1960, and the record for completion percentage belongs to Ken Anderson, who completed 70.6% of his throws in '82. With three weeks to go, Montana is on track to surpass both marks. His rating is 116.1, and he is completing 71.5% of his passes. Moreover, no quarterback has thrown five times as many touchdown passes as interceptions in a season, but with 22 touchdown throws and five interceptions Montana has a chance to do that, too (box, page 102).

What has gotten into him? After all, Montana, who missed the second half of the 49ers' 23-10 victory over the Falcons on Sunday with bruised ribs, could have quit after Super Bowl XXIII in January and been a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 1994. How did he get better?

There are several factors, most of which center on San Francisco's new offensive coordinator, Mike Holmgren, who was promoted from quarterback coach when George Seifert replaced Bill Walsh as head coach in the off-season. With Walsh gone, Holmgren took over play designing and play calling. He made a number of changes.

First, he studied every Montana interception of the last few years. Holmgren found that a few were the result of screwy things like tipped passes. Some others were the result of Montana's forcing the ball, and Holmgren persuaded him to gamble less often this year. And a few interceptions happened every season on one intermediate pass play. Holmgren removed it from the play-book before the season.

Second, the 49ers shifted more receiving responsibility to fullback Tom Rathman and wideout John Taylor, who combined for 56 catches in 1988. They've caught 113 balls between them this year.

Finally, Montana is using fewer seven-step dropbacks than in recent years; mostly he has been throwing off a three-step drop, which means he's getting rid of the ball more quickly and throwing more high-percentage passes.

One mark of a great player is his willingness to be coached. Montana has always possessed that trait. "From the beginning, every time Bill Walsh or I said something, he sort of crawled right in your mouth with you," says Montana's first quarterback coach in San Francisco, Sam Wyche, now the head coach of the Bengals. "He listened to everything you had to say. He could take an observation and plug it in on the field on the next snap."

FREQUENT FLYER

The first month of the Paul Tagliabue era ended on Dec. 3, and we've learned one thing about the new commissioner: He's not afraid to travel. He has met with the owners of the Seahawks, 49ers, Chargers, Rams and Raiders in California, and he has visited with other owners in Denver, Tampa, Washington, East Rutherford, N.J., Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. This week he is meeting with all 28 owners in three small-group sessions in Dallas. Tagliabue has also met with coaches in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Los Angeles and with game officials in Pittsburgh, East Rutherford and San Francisco.