USA Today Names Joe Montana, Jerry Rice Two Best Players of Last 25 Years

AOL SPORTS - New York, NY, USA - USA Today finished its listing of the Top 25 NFL players of the last 25 years today, and No. 1 is Joe Montana. Last week, the paper ranked Jerry Rice No. 2.

I have some rather big problems with the list (having Tom Brady and Emmitt Smith ahead of Dan Marino was incredibly stupid), but I can't argue too much about Montana and Rice going 1-2. Montana's style of passing revolutionized NFL offenses, and Rice was the best receiver of his generation by a ridiculous margin, setting records that may never be surpassed.

Such rankings are just a fun off-season diversion, but for 49ers fans, they're also an opportunity to take a moment to appreciate just how lucky they were to see these two on the field together for seven seasons.