Super Bowl 50: Top 15 quarterback performances of all-time
By John Buhler
1. Steve Young, San Francisco 49ers, Super Bowl XXIX
Maybe it was the inferior opponent. Maybe it was being a failed starter with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Maybe it was being a scrambling southpaw. Or maybe it was just having to sit and wait behind another Hall of Fame quarterback in Joe Montana.
Whatever the case, Steve Young put on the best individual quarterback performance in Super Bowl history by single-handedly crushing the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX, 49-26, in Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami.
Young completed 24-of-36 passes for 325 yards, six touchdown passes, and zero interceptions. He also scrambled around for 49 yards on 5 carries. Putting up 42 of the Niners’ 49 points on 374 total yards sounds too much like a video game to be an actual NFL stat line, especially in a Super Bowl.
Surely, the gap in play between Young and Chargers starting quarterback Stan Humphries was vast, but this game proved to the world that Young was no longer a Montana understudy and that he was an MVP in his own right.
Young would go on to quarterback the 49ers for the rest of the 90s, but never got another chance to play in another Super Bowl. His triumphant game over the Chargers elevated his stock to NFL elite status for the final five seasons of his Hall of Fame career. Without this Super Bowl victory, maybe Young doesn’t make it to Canton. However, he left absolutely no person in doubt after this rout of the Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX. His performance is the best individual performance for a starting quarterback in Super Bowl history.