Jon Steven Young (born October 11, 1961) is a former professional American football quarterback who played 15 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) and is best known for his 13 seasons with the San Francisco 49ers. He also played for the NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Los Angeles Express of the United States Football League (USFL). Young played college football for Brigham Young University, setting school and NCAA records en route to being runner-up for the 1983 Heisman Trophy. Young was named the AP's NFL Most Valuable Player in 1992 and 1994, and was the MVP of Super Bowl XXIX.

By the start of the 1992 season, it appeared that Young's starting job was in serious peril. In addition to having to compete with Bono, Montana appeared to be close to recovering from his elbow tendon surgery. San Francisco came close to trading Young to the Los Angeles Raiders, but no deal was finalized and it turned out that Montana would not recover in time to start in the opening game. Montana would not return until the final game of the 1992 season, a Monday Night home game against the Detroit Lions. Montana played the entire second half and guided the 49ers to victory.  Young ended up as San Francisco's starting quarterback, but once again got off to a rough start. On the fifth play of the opening game at the Giants, he suffered a concussion and was replaced by Bono, who threw two touchdown passes while leading the 49ers to a 31-14 win. The following week, San Francisco lost 34-31 to the Buffalo Bills, despite a career-high 449 passing yards and three touchdowns from Young, in a game that for the first time in NFL history there were zero punts from either team.  Young recovered and led the 49ers on a five-game winning streak, capped off by a 56-17 win over the Atlanta Falcons in which Young passed for 399 yards and three touchdowns. After missing most of the next game (a 24-14 loss to the Cardinals) with the flu, he led San Francisco to victory in all of their remaining games of the season, giving the team a 14-2 record. He went on to throw for 227 yards and 2 touchdowns, and rush for 73 yards, in a 20-13 divisional playoff win over the Washington Redskins. The 49ers lost the NFC title game, however, 30-20 against the eventual Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys. Young threw for 313 yards, completing 71.4% of his passes while passing for one touchdown and rushing for another. He also threw two interceptions, but the final one came with the outcome of the game already decided.  Young finished the season with 3,465 passing yards and 537 rushing yards, along with an NFL best 25 touchdown passes and 107.0 passer rating, earning him the NFL Most Valuable Player Award and his first selection to the Pro Bowl. He was the first quarterback ever to record a triple digit rating in consecutive seasons. Many credit Young's turnaround to the mentoring of the 49ers' new Offensive Coordinator Mike Shanahan, who worked with Young on combining his running skill with on-the-move passing decisions.

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