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NFL legend Steve Young spoke Tuesday about waning 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” Tuesday ahead of this year’s Pro Bowl Games and was asked when the event “lost its luster.” Young identified the moment when the original format began to fall flat with players.
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AFC coach Steve Young during practice at NFL Flag Fieldhouse in the Moscone Center South Building on February 2, 2026. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
“The Pro Bowl lost its luster when…the biggest beatings I ever took in my football career took place at the Pro Bowl. You laugh because it doesn’t make any sense,” Young said. “Why the biggest beatdown… because you’re playing with elite NFL players, and everyone’s been at the beach all week, and no one really knows the games, and now Reggie White doesn’t drink anymore, you know what I mean? Reggie White doesn’t have hangovers, or Bruce Smith or whatever, you know what I mean?
“There are Pro Bowls when I look back, and I’m like, this isn’t 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 continue because who’s going to do that and take that risk.”
NFC quarterback Steve Young (8) of the San Francisco 49ers attempts a pass against the AFC during the 1998 Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium on February 1, 1998. (VJ Lovero/USA TODAY Network)
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Young said he thinks the growing interest in flag football globally will eventually turn players’ heads.
He added that he had managed to attract the attention of players by highlighting how many people would be interested in the game and that it was 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 shown 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 continue to play flag, I think it will become something. I think they will start to accept each other and not just say, ‘Hey, the Pro Bowl is a joke,'” Young added.
