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When Donald Trump signed Doug Flutie to a six-year, $8.3million contract in 1985, it was the richest contract ever signedby a rookie. The USFL just swept its third-consecutive Heisman Trophy winner in Flutie; Trump’s Generals had two of them.

Head Coach Walt Michaels wanted

Trump to sign Boomer Esiason out of the

University of Maryland because of his size

and pocket-passing skill, and was wary of

signing an improviser like Flutie.

But Trump and the USFL needed a

star like the AFL’s Joe Namath, and when

Flutie appeared on the cover of the Feb. 25,

“CAN THIS MAN SAVE THE USFL?”

The USFL was facing a fork in the road by

the time Flutie donned a New Jersey General

uniform. The decision was made by the

USFL owners that the league would go headto-

head against the NFL in the fall of 1986.

Most of the teams were losing money,

but Trump’s Generals were averaging

around 37,000 a game in '83 and '84.

Flutie’s signing raised the Generals’ home

attendance close to 42,000 in 1985, and his

appeal help bolster attendance on the road

as well.

While many USFL teams were tightening

their belts, Trump continued his George

Steinbrenner-esque spending spree. “We

were the New York Yankees of the USFL,”

Charley Steiner, the play-by-play voice of

the Generals, said in 2005.

The Generals won 11 games in 1985 as

they earned a home-playoff game against

Jim Mora’s Stars. But for a second consecutive

year, the Stars beat the Generals in the

playoffs. “Trump never understood how

we would beat his team,” Stars G.M. Carl

Peterson said. “He would say, ‘I spend millions

on players and all you have are bunch

of no-names and you still beat me.’”

Flutie was injured in a Week 15 game

against the Memphis Showboats, missing

the last three games of the season and the

playoffs.

Michaels was getting pressure from

Flutie as well as his higher ups to allow the

Heisman Trophy winner to start the game

against the Stars. But the veteran coach

a quarterback.

Replacement quarterback Ron Reeves

and the Generals couldn’t pull out the win.

New Jersey lost to the Stars 20-17 in the

quarterfinals at the Meadowlands.

To this day, Michaels doesn’t regret holding

Flutie back. “I was told by doctors that

he shouldn’t even be practicing, never mind

playing,” Michaels said in May 2006.

Flutie’s numbers in his only season as a

General were mediocre: 15 games, 13 TD’s,

14 INTs, and a 47.7 completion percentage.

Despite the modest numbers, Flutie’s

teammates believed something magic happened

whenever he had the ball.

Dave Lapham, who joined the Generals

in the 1984 along with LB Jim Le-

Claire from the Cincinnati Bengals, said,

“He’s an undersized guy who achieved at

such a high level. He was the ultimate underdog

that proved everybody wrong. He

had the highest football IQ of anybody on

the field. He could will a team to win. He

had IT!”

Flutie never got another chance to play

in a New Jersey General uniform again; the

league folded after losing its antitrust suit

against the NFL in the summer of 1986.

Flutie was selected by the Rams in the

11th round of the 1985 draft, but Los Angeles

traded his rights to

the Bears.

Flutie joined the

Super Bowl Champion

Chicago Bears

midway through

the '86 season. The

Bears were a wild

bunch of players,

loyal to QB Jim

McMahon. In the

final four regular season games, all Chicago

wins, Flutie’s saw increased playing

time, throwing 3 TD passes in 46 pass attempts.

Chicago finished 14-2, adding up to a remarkable

two-year record of 29-3, clinching

home-field advantage throughout the playoffs

for the second year in a row. However

McMahon, their leader, was injured.

The Bears entered the playoffs as heavy

favorites against Joe Gibbs’ Washington

Redskins, despite McMahon’s absence.

During the bye week before the game,

football fans wondered: Who would Mike

Ditka choose to start at QB? Would he go

with the unimpressive Mike Tomczak, veteran

Steve Fuller, or newcomer Flutie?

In a move that divided the team, Ditka

chose Flutie.

Washington stunned the World Champion

Bears 27-13 in Chicago. Flutie was 11

of 31 with one TD and two interceptions in

the losing effort.

Flutie’s poor performance garnered him

the unfortunate nickname “Midget of the

Midway,” a play on the term “Monsters of

the Midway”—referring to the physical

Bears teams of the past.

Dan Jiggetts, a former Bear who suffered

through the losing seasons of the

mid-’70s and early ’80s, felt the team never

gave Flutie a fair chance. “It was a shame

that some of the guys decided they didn’t

like Doug, because they thought he was

the teacher’s pet,” Jiggetts said. “It’s tough

when you walk in during the middle of the

season. Those guys probably regret viewing

Flutie like they did—he’s still playing after

all these years.”

Tom Thayer, who joined the Bears via the

USFL in ’85, agreed that Flutie came into a

“no win” situation. “It was unfortunate, we

Michaels

THE USFL • The Rebel League the NFL Didn’t Respect but Feared 53

were a tight-knit group. We probably didn’t

embrace Doug like we should’ve,” Thayer

said. “Coach Ditka was feeding him to us,

rather than allowing us to accept him. He

was putting Flutie in games before he was

mentally ready to play.”

While the Bears have been in search

of a steady quarterback for 20 years since

their Super Bowl win in New Orleans,

Flutie went on to win MVP’s and championships

in the Canadian Football League,

and helped the Bills to the post-season in

’98 and ’99.

Despite what his former NFL teammates

may have thought, Flutie had a

winning record as a starter in the league.

“Whenever he got his opportunity to play,

he never disappointed,” Lapham said. “The

guy is a phenom; his face would go into a

zone and he’d have a look on his face that

something special was about to happen. He

could create opportunities with his feet, always

looking for the defense to break down

once he was out of the pocket. That’s when

he could really cause trouble.”

After leaving Chicago, Flutie returned

home to New England, signing with Patriots.

Flutie soon wore out his welcome in

the NFL after three years in New England

and headed to the CFL—where he became

a legend. Flutie won three Grey Cups and

was named the game’s MVP each time. He

was the CFL’s MVP on six different occasions,

throwing 270 career touchdown

passes in his eight years in the league.

Flutie returned to the NFL with the

Buffalo Bills in 1998, and once again controversy

followed. This time it was with

Bills QB Rob Johnson. Flutie led the Bills

to the playoffs with a 10-6 record (8-3 under

Flutie) after becoming the starter in

Week 6. But despite completing 21 of 36

for 360 yards, Buffalo lost 24-17 against

the Dolphins in Miami. Flutie was selected

to the Pro Bowl.

In 1999 Flutie threw 19 TD’s and guided

the Bills to 10 wins in his 15 starts. In

a controversial move that angered fans,

head coach Wade Phillips started Johnson

against the Titans in the wild card. The

Bills lost the game 22-16, in what became

known as “The Music City Miracle.”

Flutie spent one more year in Buffalo,

starting only five games (winning four).

Buffalo dropped to just eight wins in 2000.

By then everyone, including Flutie, had had

enough of the Flutie-Johnson controversy.

Flutie joined the Chargers in ’01 and

spent four uneventful years in San Diego,

before finally returning home in 2005 to

join the three-time Super Bowl Champion

Patriots as a backup for QB Tom Brady.

Although Flutie didn’t play much behind

Brady, Doug made headlines again when

he converted a drop kick—the first in the

NFL since 1941. Flutie ran to the sidelines

and embraced a smiling Bill Belichick—

which is a rare site. “I just thanked him for

the opportunity,” said Flutie, who threw

only 10 passes in 2005.

The Flutie magic never ends.

“The guy is a phenom; he would get into a zone where he’d have a

look on his face that something special would happen.

He could create opportunities with his feet, always looking for the

defense to break down once he was out of the pocket.

That’s when he could really cause trouble.”