Stephen Taylor Beuerlein (born March 7, 1965 in Hollywood, California) is a former football quarterback who during his NFL career played for the Los Angeles Raiders (1988-89), Dallas Cowboys (1991-92), Phoenix Cardinals & Arizona Cardinals (1993-94), Jacksonville Jaguars (1995), Carolina Panthers (1996-2000) and Denver Broncos (2001-03). He attended the University of Notre Dame. Beuerlein led Anaheim, California's Servite High School to California's championship in 1982. In 1982 his Servite team played Ohio's famed Archbishop Moeller High School. Moeller won 27-15, but Beuerlein's performance at Servite, and in the game with Moeller, caught the eye of Notre Dame's new head coach Gerry Faust, who had previously coached Moeller. Beuerlein attended Notre Dame the following year.
The play Beuerlein is most remembered for at Notre Dame is, ironically, one that he doesn't remember at all. In a 1986 game against the Alabama Crimson Tide, Beuerlein was on the receiving end of one of the more notable sacks in college football history. Famed Alabama linebacker Cornelius Bennett, who would go on to a Pro-Bowl NFL career, knocked Beuerlein unconscious with a hit that was featured by sports artist Daniel Moore in the painting "The Sack." Even after his NFL career ended, Beuerlein would claim that "The Sack" was the hardest he'd ever been hit.
Beuerlein began his professional career with the Los Angeles Raiders, but suffered an injury in pre-season play in 1987.
Beuerlein's limited playoff experience came in relief of an injured Troy Aikman in 1991. He started in a win against the Chicago Bears, throwing 180 yards, and a touchdown, with no interceptions. The following week, he relieved Aikman after the Detroit Lions jumped too far ahead for the Cowboys. On his last play as a Cowboy, Beuerlein fumbled the ball on a botched handoff to Derrick Gainer, in Beuerlein's second play of the game. Luckily, the Cowboys were ahead 52-17 in Super Bowl XXVII.
He would play with the Phoenix Cardinals in 1993, passing for his first 3000 yard season.
In 1995 he was the first selection in the expansion draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was the starting quarterback for the first game in team history. He would later lose his starting job to Mark Brunell.
After the season signed with Carolina.
Beuerlein holds many Panthers passing records. These include single-season records, all set in 1999, for passing yards (4,436), touchdowns (36), attempts (571), and completions (343).
He holds three of the top four single-game passing yard totals in team history (373, 368, and 364). His 5 touchdown passes in the last week of the 1999 season are still a team record.
His career records with the Panthers included most attempts (1,723), completions (1,041), passing yards (12,690), passing touchdowns (86), highest completion percentage (60.4%), and highest passer rating (87.7). They have all since been broken by current Panthers starting quarterback Jake Delhomme.
His 36 touchdown passes were 2nd in the NFL in 1999, and remain the eighth highest single-season total in league history. His 4,436 passing yards led the league, as did his 343 completions. At age 34, Beuerlein went to his only Pro Bowl that year.
Beuerlein finished his career with the Denver Broncos, playing mostly as a backup. However, before retiring in 2004, he signed a token one-year deal with Carolina, saying he wanted to retire as a Panther. blank">http://www.nfl.com/teams/story/CAR/7532721
In 2004, Beuerlein joined CBS Sports as a game analyst for The NFL on CBS. He made a notable gaffe during a November 25, 2007 telecast of a game between the _Tennessee Titans and Cincinnati Bengals: After the Titans' LenDale White and Bengals' Marvin White had an altercation that resulted in offsetting personal fouls, the Bengals called a brief timeout resulting in a commercial break. Beuerlein did not realize the break was a short one, and once the game resumed was overheard saying "USC thugs, man" over the air. LenDale White is a former player for Beuerlein's college rival, the University of Southern California. Mike Florio, 10-pack: Titans, Browns heading in opposite directions, The Sporting News, November 25, 2007. Larry Stewart, Witness to another miracle? No!, Los Angeles Times, November 27, 2007.
