Bono No Longer on the Sideline in San Francisco : NFL: Former UCLA quarterback is having a baptism of fire. But his pal Joe Montana is helping.

Nobody, not even Steve Bono, could say it was a bad job.

A few days a week, he’d watch some film, shag a few punts and hold the ball for kicker Mike Cofer. On most Sundays, he didn’t even get to put on a uniform, but he was on the sideline acting as the ever-essential human shield, preventing opponents from stealing the signals being relayed to the field by a real backup quarterback.

So maybe it wasn’t the most challenging way to make a living, but the pay was great. There was that weekly check for about $16,000 for each of the 17 weeks of the regular season and San Francisco players were used to figuring out how to spend their playoff bonus in the preseason.

This preseason was different, though. As training camp wore on, Joe Montana’s elbow wore out. As a result, Steve Young got his long-awaited chance to start. And Bono became a bona fide backup.

He got to take a few snaps in practice and he was the guy relaying the signals to the field on Sundays. He had to at least be ready to play on every down. He had moved off Easy Street.

On Oct. 13, however, Bono found himself in the fast lane. You know, the roar of the crowd, the glare of the television lights, and, of course, blitzing linebackers bent on breaking your bones.

Late in the first half at Atlanta, Young injured his knee. With 59 seconds remaining in the game and the 49ers trailing, 10-7, Bono had completed a respectable eight of 15 passes and thrown an interception. Then, on a third-and-21 play from the Falcon 30-yard line, Bono saw John Taylor break free of single coverage and fired a strike for a touchdown.

Jubilant 49ers sprinted onto the field and piled on top of Bono. It was a bit premature. As Young had already discovered, there’s no stealing Montana’s magic.

The Falcons won, 17-14, on a long desperation pass as time ran out.

The next week, Bono got his first start in a non-strike game. Against New Orleans. In the Superdome. Saint sackmasters Pat Swilling and Rickey Jackson, like sprinters in the blocks, lining up outside of tackles who can’t hear the snap count.

Welcome to the NFL.

Bono had completed two of 11 passes at halftime. He rebounded for a 13-for-21 second half, but was sacked three times and couldn’t get the 49ers in the end zone. New Orleans won, 10-3.

“Baptism of fire is a good way of putting it,” Bono said, “but I really felt pretty good. It actually looked worse than I thought it was after I saw the stats. But it got better as the game wore on and that’s what I have to keep doing from game to game.”

Last Sunday against Phoenix, Bono was 20 of 35 for 187 yards. He didn’t throw a touchdown pass but he didn’t throw an interception, either, and the 49ers won, 14-10.

In San Francisco, winning can be everything. Just ask Young.

Bono’s hoping that replacing the guy who replaced the legend isn’t as tough as replacing the legend. Young was criticized by the fans, the media and even his teammates as the 49ers struggled early this season. Nobody seemed to notice he was the top-rated quarterback in the league.

Pressure?

“I need to do my job well and help move the club,” Bono says, “but I don’t think there’s any more pressure than normal.”

Ram Coach John Robinson hasn’t had a lot of reasons to smile this year, but he can’t help but find the 49er quarterback situation a little bit amusing.

“They ask more of Joe Montana then you would ask of any other mortal human being,” Robinson said. “And even when Steve Young was doing so well, everybody said he wasn’t doing good because they lost. There were a lot of players who were blaming Young because he just didn’t do it for them. He was rated best in the league, but he’s no good.”

Forty-Niner Coach George Seifert thinks Bono’s twice-removed status may have lowered expectations by some people, but he’s not one of them.

“There’s always been the comparisons between Steve (Young) and Joe,” he said. “There was never really a controversy, but there was always speculation about how Steve would do.

“Steve Bono has never been involved in that, so outwardly, I’d say (expectations) are lower. But expectations from the club, the coaches and everybody involved with this thing are every bit as much as they would be of Steve Young or anyone else.

“If he’s the guy on the field, then we have to expect the best out of him.”

Seifert may be expecting the best, but he seems to be asking less. He says the 49ers’ recent tendency to play ball-control rather than big-strike football is merely the culmination of a season-long quest to improve their running game.

Bono says he hasn’t noticed any “drastic” changes in the offensive game plan while admitting that “there probably has been some of that.” Long-time 49er watcher Robinson, however, has observed some sweeping reforms.

“They’ve changed their offensive personality some,” he said. “They try to run the football a lot. They’ve gone away from trying to be a major passing team. They tend to play the game to their defense a little more than they have in the past.

“And now maybe they’re doing a little better job of taking more responsibility as a whole group to try and win. In the past they had cushion of saying, ‘Let’s win it here, let’s win it on defense,’ but, at least subconsciously, it was always . . . ‘JOE!”’

Bono has one advantage Young didn’t. He can still look to Joe. Montana chose not to send in the signals to Young, but is providing that service for Bono, who is a close friend.

Young, who could be ready to play again in a week or two, will watch the games from the press box until then.

Montana has done a lot more for his fishing buddy than just wave his arms.

“Joe has really helped me a lot,” Bono said. “There’s a lot of things he helps with, but probably the biggest thing is that he sees things so well, whether he’s on the field or the sidelines.

“He’ll say, ‘Well, they’re doing this or they’re doing that and maybe you should look over here.’ He’s helped and he’s been very encouraging.”

Bono is open to suggestions and he doesn’t mind a pep talk. At 29, he’s no kid, but he’s a long way from being a seasoned veteran.

Take last year for instance. The only experience he got was putting on and taking off his uniform six times. The rest of the time he was on the inactive list. And his 1990 statistics read: “Did Not Play.”

Waiting his turn is Bono’s forte, by no choice of his own, of course.

In his first two seasons at UCLA, he threw just 142 passes. He set a Bruin record for completions (25) while throwing for 399 yards and three touchdowns during his first start as a junior. He won the battle of statistics against Brigham Young All-American Young, but BYU won the game, 37-35.

Then Bono suffered a separated shoulder and watched walk-on Rick Neuheisel lead UCLA to victory in the Rose Bowl.

Bono missed three games during his senior season with a torn ligament in his ankle but recovered in time to outduel Miami quarterback Bernie Kosar in the Bruins’ 39-37 Fiesta Bowl victory on Jan. 1, 1985.

“I guess (the UCLA experience) helped as far as being able to deal with frustration,” Bono said. “But as far as handling the playing time and that type of thing, no.”

A sixth-round draft choice by Minnesota in 1985, Bono didn’t exactly jump right into the action in the NFL, either. He was signed, released and re-signed in two years with the Vikings. He appeared in one game in 1985 and one more in ‘86, completing two of 11 passes.

Pittsburgh picked him up after the 1986 season and he started all three strike replacement games in ’87. He hung on with Steelers through the next season, but was left unprotected after the 1988 season.

Bono was just about to embark on a career as a stockbroker when the 49ers asked him to camp to compete with Kevin Sweeney for the No. 3 quarterback spot. In a little less than 2 1/2 seasons in San Francisco, Bono threw only eight passes.

Then he was thrown into the fire in Atlanta.

The 49ers had lost the services of their Nos. 1 and 2 quarterbacks but chose not to seek the services of a veteran quarterback.

“Steve’s been with us for a number of years now and though he hasn’t played a great deal, he has a pretty good grasp of our offense,” Seifert said. “We were confident in watching him throw the ball that he could move the club.

“And I think he’s held up well.”

Which is to say he’s no Joe Montana. Or even Steve Young. So Bono knows he’s bound for the life of leisure again, as soon as Young’s knee is healthy.

“Yeah, probably,” he says. “I don’t know that feeling right now, but I’m sure there will be a time when I have to experience it. I’ll just have to deal with it then.”

He can wait. He’s good at that.