Comfy Joe Could Have Won This From Easy Chair : Quarterback: Montana is as relaxed as ever, thanks to family, friends and Walsh’s plays.

These were a few of his favorite things:

His kids’ picture in his locker. Dwight Clark’s jersey in the one next to his. The Denver Broncos in his crosshairs. Bill Walsh’s playbook at his fingertips.

Walsh, himself, a lot farther away than that?

Scouting report for future 49er foes: Whatever you do, don’t ever let Joe Montana get as comfortable as he did Sunday when he capped his--anyone’s?--most memorable season with another grand game.

He went 22 for 29 for 297 yards and threw five touchdown passes, a Super Bowl record. He has a career total of 11 touchdown passes in Super Bowls, another Super Bowl record. He was named the game’s most valuable player for the third time. You guessed it, another Super Bowl record.

At age 33, his regular-season passing rating, 112.4, was an NFL record. In three postseason games, he completed 78.3% of his passes for 11 touchdowns and no interceptions.

In three postseason first halves, en route to what would become three routs, he completed 79.4% for nine touchdowns.

Like, what was left in the way of compliments?

“He’s probably the greatest quarterback ever to play this game,” Coach George Seifert said.

“Well, he’s not looking up at anyone, that’s for sure,” said Steve Young, caught in the anguish/admiration of backing up a legend.

But comfort can be hard to come by, so let’s start with the picture.

It has Joe’s two young daughters and his infant son, posed with Joe’s three Super Bowl rings. Underneath is engraved, “OK, Daddy, The Next Ring Is For You.”

Montana’s wife, Jennifer, had it made up.

“I have only one thing to say to her,” said Joe, laughing Sunday night. “She can have that one. I’ll take the next one.”

About the jersey . . .

Dwight Clark, now retired, was Montana’s closest friend on the 49ers, then or since. Clark made The Catch of Montana’s pass to win the NFC title game against Dallas in 1982. The 49er equipment man recently took to hanging Clark’s old jersey where Montana could see it. The first thing Montana did after this game was put on a sweat shirt from Clark’s restaurant to plug it through the postgame interviews.

“Just a ghost from the past,” said Montana, grinning. “A good one.”

About Walsh, Young, and this roll that Joe’s on . . .

It wasn’t always this way. Can anyone remember how badly the 1988 season was going for Montana, right up until the last month?

The ’86 season had ended with then-Giant Jim Burt blasting him into Never-Never Land. The ’87 season ended with an upset loss to the Vikings.

In the off-season, there were reports that Walsh and owner Eddie DeBartolo wanted to trade Montana to the Chargers for Billy Ray Smith; that the Chargers turned it down.

The ’88 season began with Walsh declaring a competition for the No. 1 spot between Montana and Young.

In Game 11 of the ’88 season, the Raiders beat the 49ers in Candlestick Park, 9-3. Montana looked awful. The 49ers were 6-5 and looked out of it.

What, him worry?

Joe says he never got down.

“I worry emotionally because I’m his wife,” Jennifer said. “It hurts to know when he’s capable of doing so much and yet not having the opportunity because he was being shuffled back and forth. I thought that was unjust. But it’s like Joe said, ‘That’s not anybody’s fault but Bill’s.’ And you have to have respect for your coach.

“Whether he agrees with Bill’s decisions or not, he’s always had the utmost respect for him. And that’s what he’ll say over and over. You never heard it. I didn’t hear it around the house. He never bad-mouths Bill.”

And yet, mustn’t there have been some resentment?

“It wasn’t resentment,” Jennifer said. “It was just, he didn’t understand any of it because he felt he’d had a great season the year before (1987), which he did. He didn’t feel there was any justification for putting Steve in, and moving Joe back and forth. But I don’t think there were any hard feelings.”

In a great irony, between Walsh and Montana, the mentor who designed the scheme and the wizard who ran it, there was always a certain tension.

If Montana really wasn’t smoldering, well maybe that was just Joe.

He’s modest to a fault. Jennifer says he almost blushes when she compliments him. He’s amiable, easygoing, laid-back off the field almost to the point of being comatose.

“He’s a nice down-to-earth guy,” says a teammate, “but he has the personality of a piece of bread.”

In the last month of the ’88 season, Montana pulled himself together. He led the 49ers to their late-drive, come-from-behind Super Bowl victory over Cincinnati. He rolled right through the ’89 season. He rolled through Super Bowl week, when his ex-wife Cass sold the story of their breakup to the National Enquirer, and he got dragged in on a drug story, although no evidence involving him had ever surfaced.

He kept right on rolling Sunday night. By his reckoning, the Broncos only knocked him off his feet once or twice. He had them down for the count by halftime.

“That’s something I’m working on,” Young said. “You can get overly emotional. You throw a bad pass, you don’t see someone you should see, you make a mistake in the heat of the moment.

“I think he’s one of the best at it--he’ll just immediately pace the sideline, thinking about the next series. I mean, we’re up 50-something to 10 and he’s pacing the sideline, thinking about the next series.

“The tough times take a lot out of everybody. The good times take a lot out of everybody. I don’t think he lets it outwardly show. People get used to him being the steady force on this team. Because of that, we’ll get in games where we’ll be down by a few touchdowns, or like this last controversy. You always look at Joe so if he’s down or something--oh my gosh! Something’s really wrong! But that’s never happened.

“You notice in our postgame party, there’s no champagne. We said the Lord’s Prayer. I mean how many Lord’s Prayers have you had in championship locker rooms? I mean, this is a business-as-usual kind of thing. Half the guys in the locker room are probably walking around saying, ‘Let’s go do it again,’ because we’re just that efficient. I think we kind of show ourselves for the people we follow.”

So what’s it like for Young?

“It’s lousy sometimes, because you equally want your shot with this offense. And then at other times, it’s inspiring. I think it’s a paradox. I’ll just leave it at that.

“If there’s any hope for me to play here, I want to be here. Maybe Joe can play ‘til he’s 40, but I know I can play ‘til I’m 40, too.”

Sunday night was one of the inspiring ones.

Montana was asked what he plans to do next.

“I’m going to take a nice nap,” he said.

JOE MONTANA’S SUPER BOWL RECORDS GAME Touchdown passes--5 vs. Denver, 1990. Previous record 4, Terry Bradshaw, Pittsburgh, 1979; Doug Williams, Washington, 1988.

Consecutive pass completions--13 vs. Denver, 1990. Previous record 10, Phil Simms, New York Giants, 1987.

Yards passing--357 vs. Cincinnati, 1989.

Attempts without interception--36 vs. Cincinnati, 1989.

CAREER

Passes attempted--122. Previous record 98, Roger Staubach, Dallas.

Passes completed--83. Previous record 61, Staubach.

Completion percentage--68.0. Improves his previous record of 65.6.

Yards passing--1,142. Previous record 932, Bradshaw.

Touchdown passes--11. Previous record 9, Bradshaw.

Attempts without interception--122. Extends his previous record of 93.

MVP awards--3 (1982, 1985 and 1990). Previous record 2, Bradshaw 1979-1980, and Bart Starr, Green Bay Packers, 1967-1968.