Young Bad Early but Is Simply Great Late

Steve Young played hurt. Steve Young won hurt.

Overcoming a nagging groin strain, Young led the Niners back from a 21-0 deficit to defeat Cincinnati, 28-21, on Sunday. He threw a game-tying touchdown pass with 2:08 left, then ran 15 yards for the winning score exactly a minute later, limping into the end zone on his sore leg.

“You could not ask for a more gutsy performance performance than what he did out there, especially when you know what Steve’s been going through,” said San Francisco Coach George Seifert, who picked up his 100th career victory faster than anyone else in NFL history.

Seifert, who fired up his team with a halftime tirade in which he threw a chair, did it in his 132nd game. The fastest before him was Vince Lombardi, who needed 136.

The 49ers (5-2) were nearly done in by five turnovers and injuries to their top two quarterbacks before prevailing in dramatic fashion.

“I think we had him frustrated at first but he’s a great quarterback and he made the plays when he had to,” Bengal linebacker James Francis said.

Young, struggling in his first start in four games, was taken out in favor of Elvis Grbac in the first quarter but had to return when Grbac went down with a shoulder injury just before the end of the first half.

“George told me if I looked like I was hobbling, he would take me out. But I’m glad I got to go back in,” Young said. “I told him I could hop along in there.”

Trailing, 21-14, in the fourth quarter, with 5:35 left in regulation, San Francisco started at its own 12.

Young went four for four for 67 yards, the last 45 coming on a pass to the streaking Terrell Owens, a rookie starting in place of injured J.J. Stokes.

Dedrick Dodge intercepted Jeff Blake on the ensuing series, setting the 49ers up at the Bengal 32-yard line. Four plays later, Young rolled left on a bootleg, turned upfield into the clear and went in for the score, limping.

“It was a great, fun, memorable moment,” said Young, who jumped into Jerry Rice’s arms.

Grbac hurt his left shoulder late in the second quarter when he was tackled while scrambling. X-rays taken at halftime were negative but Grbac was unable to return, so the ailing Young did.