Editing Jon Kitna (section)

===Seattle Seahawks===
====1996 season====
{{see also|1996 Seattle Seahawks season}}
Believing that his football career was over after the NAIA championship, Kitna finished his math education degree at Central Washington and began applying for high-school coaching jobs.{{r|oneil20120519}} [[Seattle Seahawks]] head coach [[Dennis Erickson]] visited the campus to give a tryout for his nephew, Bryce Erickson, a receiver on the Central Washington team. Impressed by Kitna's strong passes, the Seahawks signed him as an [[undrafted free agent]] on April 25.

He was waived on August 19 and signed to the [[practice squad]] on August 26, where he remained for the rest of the season.<ref>{{cite web|title=Seahawk Notebook -- Jon Kitna's Back, For NFL Tutelage|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19960827&slug=2346130|publisher=The Seattle Times|date=August 27, 1996|access-date=April 30, 2020}}</ref>

====1997 season====
{{see also|1997 Seattle Seahawks season}}
Kitna was allocated to the [[Barcelona Dragons (NFL Europe)|Barcelona Dragons]] of the [[World League of American Football]]. He appeared in 10 games, posting 171 completions (led the league), 317 pass attempts (led the league), a 53.9% average, 2,448 passing yards (led the league), 22 passing touchdowns (led the league), 15 interceptions. He set the league record for quarterbacks with 334 rushing yards and 3 rushing touchdowns.

He was the runner-up to [[T. J. Rubley]] for World League MVP honors and was named the [[Most valuable player|MVP]] of the title game, when he led the [[Barcelona Dragons (NFL Europe)|Barcelona Dragons]] to a 38&ndash;24 [[World Bowl V]] win over the [[Rhein Fire (NFL Europe)|Rhein Fire]], completing 23-of-31 passes for 401 yards (league record), 2 touchdowns and one interception.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Star is Born|url=http://www.nfl.com/europa/history/1997|work=NFL.com|publisher=NFL Enterprises, LLC|access-date=April 30, 2020|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131227231412/http://www.nfl.com/europa/history/1997|archive-date=December 27, 2013}}</ref>

He returned to the Seahawks and was the third-string quarterback behind [[John Friesz]] and [[Warren Moon]]. On December 14, he had his first career start against the [[1997 Oakland Raiders season|Oakland Raiders]] after Moon injured his ribs, leading the team to the second biggest comeback in franchise history, from a 21–3 halftime deficit to a 22–21 win. Moon returned to start in the season finale against the [[1997 San Francisco 49ers season|San Francisco 49ers]]. Kitna played in 3 games, making 23-of-37 completions for 283 yards, one touchdown and 2 interceptions.

====1998 season====
{{see also|1998 Seattle Seahawks season}}
Kitna was the team's deactivated third-string quarterback in 10 of the first 11 games. He made the first start of the season and second of his career against the [[1998 Tennessee Oilers season|Tennessee Oilers]] and earned AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors, after passing for 298 yards, 2 touchdowns and one interception, while leading a fourth-quarter comeback for the deciding 48-yard field goal in a 20–18 win.

He completed 17-of-24 attempts in the next game against the [[1998 New York Jets season|New York Jets]], for 278 yards, 2 touchdowns, 3 carries for 25 yards and 2 interceptions. He had a 70-yard touchdown pass to [[Joey Galloway]] in the first quarter and followed it 3 minutes later with a second 57-yard touchdown pass to Galloway. He also rushed three times for 25 yards at the Jets.

In the fifteenth game against the [[1998 Indianapolis Colts season|Indianapolis Colts]], he rallied the team to score 17 fourth quarter points in a 27–23 win, making 16-of-29 completions for 177 yards, 1 touchdown and no interceptions. He ended the season by passing for 242 yards, one touchdown and one interception against the [[Super Bowl XXXIII|eventual Super Bowl champion]] [[1998 Denver Broncos season|Denver Broncos]].

He was named the starting quarterback for the last 5 contests, leading the team to a 3–2 record. He finished with 98-of-172 completions (57.0%) for 1,177 yards, 7 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. Five of his 7 touchdown passes went to [[wide receiver]] [[Joey Galloway]].

====1999 season====
{{see also|1999 Seattle Seahawks season}}
Kitna started 15 games for the Seahawks. He did not play in the second game against the [[1999 Chicago Bears season|Chicago Bears]] due to a sprained toe he suffered in the season opener against the [[1999 Detroit Lions season|Detroit Lions]]. He was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Month for October, after guiding the club to a 3–1 record, while throwing for 7 touchdowns and just 2 interceptions.

He led the team to a 9&ndash;7 record (Kitna going 8&ndash;7 in games started), winning the [[AFC West]] and into the playoffs for the first time since [[1988 Seattle Seahawks season|1988]]. Seattle would end up losing 20–17 in the wild card game against the [[1999 Miami Dolphins season|Miami Dolphins]]. He posted 270-of-495 completions (54.5%) for 3,346 yards (fifth in the AFC), 23 touchdown passes (third in the AFC) and 16 interceptions.

====2000 season====
{{see also|2000 Seattle Seahawks season}}
In [[2000 NFL season|2000]], Seahawks head coach [[Mike Holmgren]] was concerned with Kitna's preseason performance and tried to work a trade for [[Green Bay Packers]] backup quarterback [[Matt Hasselbeck]], although it did not come through.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-2001-01-14-0101130360-story.html | work=Sun-Sentinel | first=Alex | last=Marvez | title=Suddenly, Kitna Doesn't Look So Bad To Seahawks | date=January 14, 2001 | access-date=April 30, 2020}}</ref>

Kitna began the season with a four-interception performance against the [[2000 Miami Dolphins season|Miami Dolphins]], which opened the door for Holmgren to put second-year quarterback [[Brock Huard]] in the game. Kitna started the next 4 contests, before being replaced by Huard in the sixth game against the [[2000 Carolina Panthers season|Carolina Panthers]]. Huard suffered a concussion two games later in the second quarter against the [[2000 Oakland Raiders season|Oakland Raiders]], which forced him to miss 3 games and put Kitna back in the starter role.

On November 5, down 15–14 on 3rd-and-16 with 1:28 left in the game, Kitna dodged a possible 17-yard sack by [[2000 San Diego Chargers season|San Diego Chargers]] defensive end [[Neil Smith (American football)|Neil Smith]] and made an 18-yard pass to [[Darrell Jackson]]. This pass set up the game-winning field goal by [[Rian Lindell]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Trotter|first=Jim|title=Chargers beat Seahawks everywhere except where it matters, the scoreboard|url=http://www.uniontrib.com/sports/chargers/20001106-9999_1s6chargers.html|work=San Diego Union-Tribune|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001207175400/http://www.uniontrib.com/sports/chargers/20001106-9999_1s6chargers.html|archive-date=December 7, 2000}}</ref>

Huard returned as the starter in the thirteenth game against the [[2000 Denver Broncos season|Denver Broncos]], but suffered a season-ending kidney injury in the first quarter. Kitna went on to start the last 4 contests. His last win for the Seahawks came on a rain-soaked [[Husky Stadium]] turf in December of that year, beating the [[AFC Championship Game]]-bound Oakland Raiders on a touchdown pass to rookie [[Darrell Jackson]] in the final minute of play.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/premium/0286/0286-7240682.html | work=San Jose Mercury News | first=Mark | last=Purdy | title=New Raiders revert to old Raiders form | date=December 17, 2000}}</ref>

The Seahawks were 6–6 in his 12 starts and 0–4 in the other games. He registered 259-of-418 completions (54.5%) for 2,658 yards, 18 touchdowns and 19 interceptions. Holmgren chose not to re-sign Kitna after the season.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://products.kitsapsun.com/archive/2001/01-05/0037_seahawks__holmgren_promises_to_re.html | work=Kitsap Sun | first=Jim | last=Cour | title=SEAHAWKS: Holmgren promises to rebuild... quickly | date=January 5, 2001 | access-date=April 30, 2020 | archive-date=March 7, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307093823/https://products.kitsapsun.com/archive/2001/01-05/0037_seahawks__holmgren_promises_to_re.html | url-status=dead }}</ref>