Steve Beuerlein spent the entire 1990 season in street clothes. A little more than a year later, he was the winning quarterback in the first playoff game of the Jerry Jones era.
“Al Davis had kept me in street clothes the whole 1990 season,” Beuerlein said of his final year with the Raiders. A contract dispute had soured his relationship with the owner, who preferred Jay Schroeder, and Davis simply refused to dress him. The Raiders went 12-4 and reached the AFC Championship Game without him. Beuerlein watched and waited. “There was no free agency then. I didn’t know if I’d ever get a chance to play again,” he said.
Beuerlein sat down with PFSN for an exclusive interview to discuss all things football. The former QB recently enrolled in Heartflow’s GAMEFILM Registry, a program analyzing the heart health of former professional athletes.
How Steve Beuerlein Landed in Dallas After a Year in Exile
The escape came days before the 1991 season, when the Raiders traded Beuerlein to Dallas for a fourth-round pick to back up Troy Aikman. He did not expect to play. Then Aikman injured his knee against the undefeated Washington Redskins on Nov. 24, and everything changed.
“We got to Week 12 in that season, we were 6-5,” Beuerlein said. “Troy got hurt. We were playing the undefeated Washington Redskins at the time, and we were able to beat them in Washington, and then we won five straight.”
The numbers hold up. Beuerlein relieved Aikman and threw a fourth-quarter touchdown to Michael Irvin in a 24-21 upset of an 11-0 Washington team, then won each of his four regular-season starts to carry Dallas to an 11-5 finish and its first playoff berth since 1985. For a quarterback who had been erased from the league a year earlier, the timing was everything.
“It put me back on the map in terms of reestablishing myself as a guy that could play in this league,” he said.
Jerry Jones’ First Playoff Win and the Start of a Dynasty
Aikman’s knee healed in time for the playoffs, but Jimmy Johnson rode the hot hand and kept Beuerlein in the lineup, a decision that did not sit well with the young franchise quarterback. It paid off. On Dec. 29, 1991, Beuerlein threw for 180 yards without a turnover and the Dallas defense smothered Chicago in a 17-13 win at Soldier Field, the franchise’s first road playoff win in more than a decade and the first of the Jones era.
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Many around the team point to that stretch as the moment the 1990s dynasty began. Beuerlein started the divisional round the next week at Detroit, where Aikman relieved him in a 38-6 loss, but the foundation was set. A year later, a healthy Aikman led Dallas to a 13-3 record and a 52-17 rout of Buffalo in Super Bowl 27, played at the Rose Bowl in Beuerlein’s backyard.
He had grown up nearby and never lost his appreciation for the moment. “It was right in my backyard, really,” Beuerlein said of the Pasadena setting. As Aikman’s backup, he held for kicks and collected his only championship ring. “I got to hold for a lot of extra points and a lot of field goals in that game, so I contributed in that way.”
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His role in the dynasty’s first step drew fresh attention in the 2025 Netflix series “America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys.” Beuerlein appreciated the recognition, and he still carries the distinction with him. “They’ve always been very good to me. They’ve always recognized me for my contributions,” he said. Then, on the playoff win that started it all, came the line he has earned the right to say: “I’m the only one that can say that.”
