Young has perspective these Eagles could use
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- You want to know how significant Super Bowl XXXIX is to the Philadelphia Eagles, you don't listen to Andy Reid. You listen to Steve Young.
Ten years ago Young quarterbacked the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl in a game that would serve as a measuring stick for his career. He had to win it to bury the ghost of Joe Montana, and he did -- throwing a Super Bowl-record six touchdown passes in a 49-26 waxing of the San Diego Chargers.
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| Steve Young shed the weight of the world from his shoulders when the 49ers won Super Bowl XXIX. (Getty Images) |
"I liken it a little bit to what the Eagles are going through," Young said of his 1995 experience. "There was a sense of relief because you slay the monster in terms of beating the Cowboys in the (NFC) Championship Game. It kind of energized me for the Super Bowl.
"I was much more nervous about the championship game because we were playing one of the best teams put together in a long time, and we had to get over it."
Philadelphia didn't play one of the best teams ever to get here. But it is playing one of the best in recent years, with the Patriots poised to become only the second team in Super Bowl history to win three in four years.
Young knows the obstacles the Eagles are up against. He was there in 1995. So was coach George Seifert, who almost surely would have been dismissed if the 49ers didn't win -- with then-offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan the likely successor.
There was so much pressure on Young to succeed then that when the clock ticked off the final minutes of the fourth quarter, he turned to his teammates and shouted, "Somebody take the monkey off my back."
"I regret that a little bit," Young said Saturday, "because I never made it the point. The point was the challenge. The point was carrying things as high as you could. I kind of lost it a little bit because I didn't feel the weight on my shoulders. I looked it as an opportunity.
"You've got to remember that I was at Tampa Bay and at the time there was a kind of institutionalized losing there because of the success they were fighting. I don't blame anyone; it's just the way it was. I made my way to a great organization, and it reminded me of my college days. It was such a special place."
This is a special time and place for Philadelphia, a team that, like Young a decade ago, can achieve greatness while dismissing ghosts of the past. The Eagles were the club that couldn't get over the NFC championship hump. Now they've done that. But if they lose Sunday, get ready to hear how they're the team that can't win The Big One.
Pardon Young if he has heard it all before. Remember, he was the guy who played behind Jim McMahon at BYU; who was drafted by lowly Tampa Bay; who played in the USFL; who followed Joe Montana in San Francisco and who was chosen to lead the team when the club gave up on Montana in 1993 and traded him to Kansas City.
"Football is the greatest laboratory for personal experiences," he said. "You want to learn about yourself? Go play football."
