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NFL legend Steve Young pinpoints when Pro Bowl 'lost its luster'
By Ryan Gaydos
Published February 05, 2026
NFL legend Steve Young talked Tuesday about the decreasing interest in the Pro Bowl since the league changed the format from a regular game to a flag football event.
The former San Francisco 49ers star appeared on "The Dan Patrick Show" on Tuesday before this year’s Pro Bowl Games and was asked when the event "lost its luster." Young pinpointed when the original format began to fall flat with players.
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AFC coach Steve Young during practice at the NFL Flag Fieldhouse at Moscone Center South Building on Feb. 2, 2026. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
"The Pro Bowl lost its luster when … the biggest beatings I’ve ever taken in my football career were at the Pro Bowl. You laugh because it makes no sense," Young said. "Why would the biggest beating … because you’re playing with elite players in the NFL, and everyone’s been at the beach all week, and no one really knows the plays, and now Reggie White doesn’t drink, you know what I mean? Reggie White is not hung over, or Bruce Smith or name it, you know what I mean?
"There are Pro Bowls when I look back, and I’m like, this is not right. I just finished the Super Bowl, and now I’m going to the Pro Bowl and I love being in Hawaii, but I’m not going to take a beating. So, it was irrational, and it couldn’t be sustained because who’s gonna go do that and take that risk."
NFC quarterback Steve Young (8) of the San Francisco 49ers attempts a pass against the AFC during 1998 Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium on Feb. 1, 1998. (VJ Lovero/USA TODAY Network)
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Young said he believed that the growing interest in flag football globally will eventually turn players’ heads.
He added that he was able to get players’ attention when he stressed just how many people would be interested in the game and that it’s becoming an elite sport in its own right.
AFC wide receivers Ja'Marr Chase (1), of the Cincinnati Bengals, Tee Higgins (5), of the Cincinnati Bengals, Courtland Sutton (14), of the Denver Broncos, and Nico Collins (12), of the Houston Texans, are introduced before the NFL Pro Bowl football game against the NFC, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
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"I think the Pro Bowl, if we keep playing flag, I think it will become something. I think they will start to embrace themselves and not just be like, ‘Eh, Pro Bowl is a joke,’" Young added.
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