Long before the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs squared off in Super Bowl LIV, the two franchises were already steeped in Super Bowl history.
To wit, the Chiefs played in two of the first four Big Games, and the 49ers won four championships in the 1980s and another in 1995 — and lost one in 2013.
Not surprisingly, several players from these franchises shined bright in the Super Bowl, sometimes even when they were playing for other teams!
Here, then, is the list of men who have won Super Bowl MVP awards and played for either the Chiefs or 49ers — or both — at some point in their careers.
And, because we’re collectors here, we’ll check out their rookie cards along the way.
1963 Fleer Len Dawson (#47)
And Dawson himself may have been left for dead when he suffered a devastating knee injury in the second game of the 1969 season.
Len Dawson and the Chiefs may have dropped the first Super Bowl to the Green Bay Packers (35-10) in January 1967.
But he hobbled back into the lineup after missing just five games, and after backup Mike Livingston ran up a 6-0 record.
Dawson was back in the saddle full-time by the playoffs and guided K.C. to road victories over the New York Jets and Oakland Raiders, then handed the Minnesota Vikings the first of their four 1970s Super Bowl losses, 23-7.
In that game, Dawson passed for 142 yards and a single touchdown, a 46-yarder to Otis Taylor in the third that represented the last points in the contest.
It was enough to earn the geezer QB Super Bowl MVP honors.
Incidentally, that was also the last game ever played by an AFL team, as the AFL-NFL merger gave birth to one league and two conferences (AFC and NFC) in 1970.
Though Dawson started out with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1957, he didn’t land a rookie card until the 1963 Fleer issue — the upstart got the jump on Topps by a year.
The Dawson rookie card is a toughie and runs into the hundreds (raw) or thousands (high grades), depending on condition and whether it’s graded.
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1972 Topps Jim Plunkett (#65)
Plunkett was the first overall pick of the New England Patriots in the 1971 NFL Draft after winning the Heisman Trophy in 1970.
He threw a lot of picks and took a lot of hits (and sacks) in five years with the Pats before they traded him to the San Francisco 49ers.
After two seasons by the Bay, he headed … well, across the Bay, to the Oakland Raiders. In his second season with the Men in Black, Plunkett led the Raiders to a victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XV.
In that one, Plunkett passed for 261 yards and three TDs to cop MVP honors.
His 1972 Topps rookie card ranges from less than $20 to $150 or more for high-end graded copies.
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1981 Topps Joe Montana (#216)
You know all about Joe Montana, but just in case, the gist is …
Teamed with Bill Walsh to make the West Coast offense a thing and the 49ers a force … won four Super Bowls and three SB MVP awards in the process.
Teamed with Jerry Rice to become Montana-to-Rice …
Lost that to Young-to-Rice, and the Niners’ QB job to Steve Young.
Signed with Chiefs on big three-year free agent deal, led them to two playoff appearances, then retired.
Oh yeah … Montana also set the hobby on fire with his 1981 Topps rookie card, a relic that still stirs collector emotions today.
Expect three figures-plus unless half of it is missing.
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1983 Topps Marcus Allen (#294)
After a season as Marc Wilson‘s backup and a strike-shortened 1982, Plunkett had the Raiders back in the Super Bowl after the 1983 season … you know, with a little (lot of) help from his friends.
Chief among those was second-year running back Marcus Allen from USC.
After a Heisman performance at Southern Cal, Allen was the tenth overall pick in 1982.
And after racking up 1000-plus yards in his second season in 1983, Allen pounded the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII to the tune of 191 yards and two touchdowns.
Yep, that was an MVP performance in the Raid-ahz 38-9 victory, one of many accolades in Allen’s Hall of Fame career.
His 1983 Topps rookie card has been a popular buy for nearly 40 years and remains a classic today.
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1985 Topps Richard Dent (#24)
The 1985 Chicago Bears were one of the greatest teams of all time, and maybe the greatest one-season champs (though they gave it a good ride in 1986, as well).
And, though the team featured the legendary Walter Payton and other big names like Jim McMahon, Willie Gault,and William Perry (The Fridge!), on offense, it was Buddy Ryan’s legendary “46” defensive unit that carried the day most of the time.
So, as Mike Ditka‘s team stormed through the playoffs and practiced their “Super Bowl Shuffle,” there were plenty of dudes on D who could dominate any given game.