Aikman, Young Have Much to Prove Today : NFC: Agent for both says there’s more pressure on 49er quarterback because Cowboys won Super Bowl last season.

When Troy Aikman recently signed a record $50 million contract, Steve Young was bumped into the No. 2 position in the NFL’s salary league.

It’s not a new feeling for Young. He’s used to being No. 2.

Not that anyone will hold any benefits for the San Francisco 49ers quarterback, whose contract averages $5.35 million a year. Still, it does continue a pattern for Young. He always seems to be the second banana.

Until Joe Montana was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs before the season started, Young lived and played in his huge shadow.

Now that Montana is gone, Young has established himself as the leader of the 49ers and has taken the club to the National Football Conference title game for a second straight year.

But Young still finds himself chasing another quarterback--Aikman, whose new contract averages $6.25 million.

Aikman, who outdueled Young in last year’s NFC title game, will try to do it again Sunday.

For Aikman, it’s a chance to take a big step toward joining the exclusive club of quarterbacks who have won back-to-back Super Bowls. Only Bart Starr, Bob Griese, Terry Bradshaw and Montana belong to that club.

“There’s no question if we win this game and go on to the Super Bowl and win, it will raise my play in the eyes of the public and put me in a different class,” Aikman said. “That’s not the reason for me to go on to win the Super Bowl. It would be nice to win two in a row or three in a row. It would be nice to win one every year. That’s our goal.”

Young’s goal is to get there for the first time.

Leigh Steinberg, the agent who represents both quarterbacks, said, “When I was doing Aikman’s negotiations, Steve was statistically superior in virtually all respects, except the goal of the entire enterprise is to win the Super Bowl, and Troy has done that.”

Steinberg says there’s more pressure on Young because Aikman already has won a title.

When the Cowboys won the Super Bowl last year, Aikman’s reaction seemed to be more of relief than elation. He said that nobody could say he hadn’t won a Super Bowl.

Steinberg said he doesn’t think the pressure will bother Young.

“He understands the pressure, but at least he’s got a chance to do something about it,” Steinberg said. “He’s got a chance to respond.”

It was worse for Young when he was Montana’s backup. Even when Young led the 49ers to a 14-2 record during the 1992 season when Montana was hurt, he was viewed by many as an interloper.

“He was bottled up in the Montana years,” Steinberg said. “He had to be careful not to trample on the legend.”

Things were so frustrating that Steinberg suggested several times that Young should demand a trade.

Young rejected that idea. “He’d say, ‘Look, I’m going to get my chance,’ ” Steinberg said.

Young kept pointing out that the 49ers were a strong organization with a strong supporting cast for a quarterback.

Young had played for a disorganized team, the Los Angeles Express, in the old United States Football League and a losing team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in the NFL, and he wanted to stay in San Francisco.

He has the job now and he has learned to live with the expectations.

“The hardest point was at the beginning,” Young said. “I was always trying to jump through hoops. It started with, ‘Well, he can’t throw the long ball.’ Now it’s, ‘He hasn’t gone all the way.’

“I decided a long time ago to not jump through hoops. I do it because I want to go all the way. I’ve done a lot. And there are some things I would like to do for me personally. Then you live well. Then you’re happy.”

Aikman has had an easier path to success. At age 27, he’s five years younger than Young. After being the No. 1 pick in the 1989 college draft, Aikman had some rough moments in his first year, when the Cowboys lost all 11 games he started, and in his second and third seasons when he was injured at the end of the year.

Everything fell into place last year when the Cowboys won the Super Bowl, but both the team and Aikman hit a few speed bumps along the way. Aikman underwent back surgery in the off-season and missed two games with a pulled hamstring, but he’s now working on a six-game winning streak.

“It’s been more of a struggle this year,” he said.

The bottom line is that he’s won all four playoff games he’s started.

“He can go into any game and not have something hanging over his head that he hasn’t achieved that needs to be achieved,” Cowboys Coach Jimmy Johnson said. “I think it’s important that he has that kind of confidence.”

Both Aikman and Young have a strong supporting cast. Aikman can hand off to Emmitt Smith and throw to Michael Irvin and Alvin Harper. Young can hand off to Ricky Watters and throw to Jerry Rice and John Taylor.

It could come down to which team has the ball last.