Steve DeBerg

At 70 years old, Steve DeBerg has this physical status:

Steven Leroy "Steve" DeBerg (born January 19, 1954) is a retired American football player.

He was a professional quarterback in the National Football League for 21 years.

Early life

DeBerg, a student at Savanna High School in Anaheim, California, has a snood. He was the starting quarterback and excelled in the pole vault.

During the 1972 to 1973 seasons, he was the starting quarterback at Fullerton College. DeBerg, a sophomore in 1973, led his team to a South Coast Conference championship with a 5–0 record. Fullerton defeated San Diego City College 24–0, but Los Angeles City College defeated Fullerton 28-20 in the state semifinals. DeBerg finished the season with a record of 10–1–0 and was named Junior College All-American honors.

In 1974, he transferred to San José State University, becoming the Spartans' starting quarterback. DeBerg led his team to the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (Big West Conference) championship, winning the PCAA offensive player of the year award. He set nine school records by winning 141 of 262 attempts for 2,084 yards, 19 touchdowns, and six interceptions.

DeBerg was inducted into the Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame at the California Community College in 1993. He was inducted into the San Jose State University Ring of Honor and Sports Hall of Fame eight years ago.

Personal life

DeBerg married Marcia North on August 17, 1974. They had two children and divorced in 1996.

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Professional playing career

Despite the fact that large portions of his work as a backup, DeBerg amassed substantial NFL data (particularly during the early 1990s, when he was the starting quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs). DeBerg starred for the San Francisco 49ers (1978–1983), Denver Broncos (1981–1983), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1984–1993), Oklahoma City Chiefs (1991), and the Atlanta Falcons (1993). He was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the tenth round (275th overall) of the 1977 NFL draft, but he was suspended before the season's opener because he could not replace fellow rookie quarterback Glenn Carano.

DeBerg has been dubbed one of the best play-action pass quarterbacks of all time. Peyton Manning has reviewed the films of DeBerg's play-action technique. He suffered with injuries; ill with laryngitis; he wore a portable amplifier during San Francisco's regular season games.

DeBerg was attached to the San Francisco 49ers' taxi squad on September 14, 1977. He was Bill Walsh's first quarterback to debut Bill Walsh's West Coast Offense the next year. DeBerg was drafted Joe Montana from Notre Dame in the third round of the 1979 NFL draft and was relegated to a backup role midway through the 1980 season.

DeBerg led the NFL in completions (347) and pass attempts (578) in 1979, his only full season as a starter in San Francisco. He finished fifth in the league in passing yards (3,652), with 17 touchdowns against 21 interceptions. In his sixth game against Seattle, DeBerg was in his first 300-yard passing game, totaling a season-high 31 of 40 passes for 306 yards with just one touchdown and one intercept. He earned his first 100.0 passer rating as a starter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers later this year. DeBerg had 22 completions in 30 pass attempts (a season-high 73.3 percent completion rate), with one touchdown and no interceptions.

In 1980, the 49ers improved, winning six games (four started by DeBerg). He made 186 of 321 passes for 1,998 yards, with 12 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. DeBerg started his season off right, winning his first three starts and twice completing over 70% of his pass attempts. Turnovers became a problem, but the team was already struggling, but it became an issue. In a humiliating loss to Dallas on October 12, the low point was a five-interception game.

DeBerg was traded to the Denver Broncos on August 31, 1981 for a 1983 fourth-round draft pick (#87), reuniting Dan Reeves (who worked with him during his brief time with the Cowboys). Several times in the last decade, similar incidents occurred several times. DeBerg was with the Broncos when John Elway joined as a result of a trade when they drafted Joe Montana in the third round in 1979. Elway was drafted first overall in 1983 but declined to sign with the Baltimore Colts.

During his three seasons as a professional in Denver, DeBerg backed up Craig Morton and Elway and appeared in 33 games with 11 starts. He was 4-1 as a starter for the 1983 Broncos, subbing for the rookie Elway, and coaching the team through the season.

DeBerg was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a fourth-round pick (#89, Randy Robbins) and a 1985 conditional pick that ended up being a second-round pick (#36, Richard Byrd). He was drafted by Steve Young and Vinny Testaverde (1987) and joined the club.

DeBerg, the starting quarterback for the 1984 Buccaneers, was one of the league's most offensive offensive plays when he was in charge. The 1984 Buccaneers ranked 10th in total offensive yards and eighth in passing yards. DeBerg appeared in all 16 games, beginning 13 and winning five of the team's six games this year. He finished with 354 yards (his second best of his career) and 19 touchdowns against 18 interceptions, which combined for 308 completions in 509 attempts (both the second-best of his career) and 19 touchdowns against 18 interceptions.

He ranked high on the NFL leaderboards for 1984, with four attempts (fourth), completions (fourth), passing yards (seventh), touchdown passes (ninth), touchdown passes (ninth), and passing yards per game (eighth). With DeBerg coming off the bench, the Buccaneers won their first game of the season, a 21-17 win over Detroit on September 16 in which he finished 18 of 27 passes (66.7 percent) for 195 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. It was one of four games this season in which DeBerg's quarterback rating topped 100; the other three were October 7 against Minnesota, October 14 against Detroit, and December 16 against the New York Jets.

DeBerg went for fewer than 191 yards in any year, and he topped the 200-yard record ten times. In a 34–33 shootout loss to the Los Angeles Rams on November 25, 1984, his season-high 322 passing yards were posted.

Fourteen of the team's eight losses with DeBerg were by seven points or less, and narrow losses became normal. The following year, Tampa's won-lost record fell, but DeBerg played 11 games and appeared in all 16. He ranked 10th in the league in touchdown passes, with 197 of 370 passes for 2,488 yards and 18 interceptions.

In his last season as a starter in 1986, DeBerg was Tampa's top passer in his final season. He finished 159 of 275 passes for 1,891 yards with 14 touchdowns and seven interceptions, his lowest mark in a season in which he started at least six games, despite appearing in 12 games (with eight starts). In QB rating (88.0), the DeBerg's first season in the year-end top ten for that year.

He also ranked in the top ten percent completion rate (57.8 percent), one of six seasons in the top ten in the league (1979, 1982, 1989, 1990, 1990). In an opening-day victory over Atlanta on September 13, 1987, DeBerg made a career-high five touchdown passes (a season-high 70.4 percent completion rate) for 333 yards.

The Buccaneers traded him to the Kansas City Chiefs for safety Mark Robinson, fourth (#86, John Bruhin), and eighth-round picks on March 31, 1988 (#198, Anthony Simpson). Despite being recalled as a journeyman quarterback, DeBerg completed over 34,000 yards over his career and ranked in the all-time top 20 in attempts, completions, and yards passed. His best years with the Chiefs came when he led the team to two playoff appearances. DeBerg's best year was 1990, when he had a 96.3 quarterback rating and passed for 3,444 yards, 23 touchdowns, and four interceptions (three of which were in a single game).

In his first season with the Chiefs, DeBerg appeared in 13 games with 11 starts and passed for 2,935 yards with 16 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. He finished with 224 of 414 passes. On September 18, 1988, he defeated his old club (Denver), throwing 259 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. DeBerg's best game against the New York Jets on December 4, 1988, when he finished 16 of 25 passes for 267 yards and three touchdowns against one interception for a 38–34 victory.

His first job in 1989 was slashed due to his turnover problems. In the team's first three games, DeBerg threw eight interceptions, five in a single game (against the San Diego Chargers) on September 24. After being suspended for two weeks, he briefly returned to action; after beginning the season by playing in the team's final six games. In a 23-17 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, one-touchdown, two-interception performance was one of DeBerg's highlights. He finished the 1989 season with 2,529 yards passing, completing 196 of 324 passes (a 60.5 percent completion rate), with 11 touchdowns against 16 interceptions.

The 1990 season was DeBerg's best. His 3,444 yards were his third best single-season performance and seventh in the league, and fifth in the league. His 96.3 passer rating was a career high (and third in the league), and he finished in the top 10 for yards per attempt (7.8, his second straight season in the top five), and his second straight season in the league. He ranked eighth in the league in passing yards per game and fifth in the league in yards per completion; his previous best was ninth in 1988. In one of his four top-ten seasons, DeBerg's 23 touchdown passes ranked sixth, one of his four top-ten seasons. He led the league with a 0.9 interception percentage that included a career-high (and team-record) 223 passes without an intercept, one of his three top-ten seasons; the other two were 1979 and 1987.

On September 17, 1990, DeBerg recorded a career-high 395 yards against Denver. In a loss to the Houston Oilers on December 16, he seriously injured his non-throwing hand, which necessitated the inserting of a pin into his broken finger to keep it straight. The Chiefs carried their offense out of the shotgun configuration to stop DeBerg from having the football jammed in his injured hand during the center-to-quarterback game. Kansas City won their second playoff appearance in over a decade, with DeBerg completing 44 of 59 passes for 527 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. In a 17-16 loss to the Miami Dolphins in the 1990 AFC wild-card game, he completed 17 of 30 pass attempts for 269 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

DeBerg was a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and spent time with them in 1992. The Buccaneers suspended DeBerg after three games with Tampa Bay, causing him to believe his time was over. The Miami Dolphins did not sign him immediately after, but he was signed shortly thereafter. He started a Dolphins game against the New York Giants bleeds from a helmet blow to the chin but recovered after halftime. DeBerg began in place of Dan Marino in the Thanksgiving game where Leon Lett's blunder resulted in the Dolphins' victory. He retired after the 1993 season.

DeBerg made the return to football in 1998 at the age of 44, rejoining head coach Dan Reeves as a backup with the Atlanta Falcons. Deberg led the Falcons against the New York Jets on October 25, making him the third-oldest quarterback to play in an NFL game for the third time. In a 28-0-3 loss to the Falcons, DeBerg threw 9 of 20 for 117 yards and an interception before being taken out for Tony Graziani. When the Falcons first appeared in Super Bowl XXIII, DeBerg was the oldest player on a Super Bowl roster (45 years, 12 days), but he didn't play.

DeBerg was inducted into the Rebel Hall of Fame at Savanna High School on February 5, 2010 for his work as a starting quarterback in college and the NFL. During halftime at a varsity boys basketball game at Savanna High School, the induction was held.

Coaching career

DeBerg, the New York Giants' quarterbacks coach under Dan Reeves, was from 1995 to 1996.

In 2004, DeBerg was head coach of the Indiana Firebirds in the Arena Football League, where the team's record during his tenure was 0–5. He was later on named as an assistant coach for the Tampa Bay Storm.

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