New Jersey Generals Despite Flutie's college achievements, some considered him too small to play professional football. When asked on television "Can a guy who's five-foot-nine, 175 pounds make it in the pros?", he answered, "Yes, he can. But it's a matter of ability and not size. I feel I can play; I don't know for sure, and those questions will be answered in the future." Flutie was attractive to the
USFL, which was desperate for a star to reinvigorate the league as it was in financial difficulty. Meanwhile, the
Buffalo Bills, who had the first pick in the
1985 NFL draft, still had the rights to
Jim Kelly (who had spurned them to go to the USFL) and also had concerns about Flutie's height. He was selected by the USFL's
New Jersey Generals in the 1985 territorial draft, which took place in January, months before the 1985 NFL Draft. Flutie went through negotiations with the Generals and agreed on a deal that would make him the highest paid pro football player and highest paid rookie in any sport with $7 million over five years; Flutie was signed on February 4, 1985. Having already signed with the USFL, Flutie was not selected in the NFL draft until the 11th round as the 285th overall pick by the
Los Angeles Rams. Flutie entered the USFL with much hype and fanfare. In February 1985, Flutie made his USFL debut against the
Orlando Renegades. His debut was not impressive, as his first two professional passes were intercepted by Renegades linebacker Jeff Gabrielsen. The only two touchdowns that New Jersey scored came from turnovers by Orlando quarterback
Jerry Golsteyn. By the time Flutie's debut was over, he completed 7 of 18 passes for a total of 174 yards, while also running for 51 yards. Flutie completed 134 of 281 passes for 2,109 yards and 13 touchdowns with the Generals in 1985 in 15 games. He suffered an injury late in the season that saw him turn over the reins to reserve quarterback Ron Reeves. The Generals went on to finish with an 11–7 record and a second-place finish in the USFL's Eastern Conference. The USFL folded in 1986, and Flutie and punter
Sean Landeta were the league's last active players in the NFL.
Chicago Bears On October 14, 1986, the Los Angeles Rams traded their rights to Flutie to the
Chicago Bears in exchange for multiple draft picks. On October 2, 1988, after the Patriots began the season with a 1–3 record, Flutie came off the bench to lead a comeback victory over the
Indianapolis Colts in Foxborough, scoring the winning touchdown on a 13-yard bootleg at the end of the fourth quarter. He then led the team to a 6–3 record, including wins at home over the eventual division winning
Cincinnati Bengals and
Chicago Bears. However, on December 11, after taking the Patriots to the brink of the playoffs, Flutie was benched by head coach
Raymond Berry and replaced with
Tony Eason, who had not played football in over a year; Berry cited a need for more "explosive" play from the offense, which Flutie pointed out had thrown little to begin with. New England lost the last game of the year in Denver and were eliminated from the postseason in a tiebreaker. Flutie was released by the Patriots after playing the 1989 season in a mainly backup role. No other NFL teams showed interest in Flutie and he subsequently signed to play for the
Canadian Football League (CFL). After his release from the Patriots, they won only nine games over the following three seasons.
BC Lions In 1990, Flutie began his eight-year CFL career.
That year, he signed with the
BC Lions for a two-year contract reportedly worth $350,000 a season. At the time, he was the highest paid player in the CFL. Flutie struggled in his first season, which would be his only losing season in the CFL. The
1991 season saw Flutie set several CFL single season records: • passing attempts (730) • passing completions (466) • passing yards (6,619) • 300-yard passing games (14) • 400-yard passing games (7) • rushing touchdowns by a quarterback (14) On October 12 vs Edmonton, Flutie threw for 582 yards, which was second most in a regular season game at the time. He also won the most games for a starting quarterback that year (11). For his accomplishments, he won
Most Outstanding Player award for the first time. BC made the playoffs for the first time since 1988, but ultimately lost to the eventual West Division Champion Calgary Stampeders in the West Semi-Final.
Calgary Stampeders In
1992, Flutie was rewarded with a reported million-dollar salary from the
Calgary Stampeders. He quarterbacked Calgary to a league-best 13 regular season wins, won his second Most Outstanding Player award, and won his first
Grey Cup. In the Grey Cup game, Flutie was 33 of 49 for 480 passing yards. All three statistics were the second highest all-time for a single Grey Cup game. For his efforts, he was named the
Grey Cup MVP. In
1993, Flutie quarterbacked Calgary to a 10–0 start, with the team ultimately finishing with a league-best 15–3. He passed for 6,000 yards for the second time in his career, and set a single season record for passing touchdowns with 44. He also tied his 1991 CFL record for 400-yard passing games in a season (7), and set the CFL record for consecutive 400-yard passing games (5). Flutie won his third consecutive Most Outstanding Player award. Calgary ultimately lost in the West Division Final to the visiting
Edmonton Eskimos, which eliminated the Stampeders from playing in the
Grey Cup that was to be played in Calgary the following Sunday. The
1994 season saw Calgary once again finishing with a league-best 15–3 record. Flutie broke his CFL record from the previous season for passing touchdowns in a single season with 48. He also rushed for 760 yards, which was his best rushing season in the CFL. Against the
Hamilton Tiger-Cats on October 30, he completed the longest pass of his career (106 yards), a touchdown to
Pee Wee Smith. Flutie won his fourth consecutive Most Outstanding Player award. Calgary lost the West Division Final once again, this time to the visiting
BC Lions, who defeated the Stampeders with a last play touchdown. In
1995, Flutie missed several games due to injury. During this time,
Jeff Garcia, who later went on to start for the NFL's
San Francisco 49ers, started games at quarterback, and helped Calgary once again finish 15–3. The Stampeders advanced to the Grey Cup game, and Flutie started. However, Calgary was defeated by the
Baltimore Stallions, the first American-based team to win the
Grey Cup.
Toronto Argonauts Flutie joined the
Toronto Argonauts for the
1996 season, and they went a league-best 15–3. He won the Most Outstanding Player award for the fifth time in his career, and quarterbacked the team to a Grey Cup victory in
The Snow Bowl held in
Hamilton, Ontario. He won his second Grey Cup MVP award. After a league-best 15–3 regular season in
1997, Toronto was successful in its quest to win back-to-back Grey Cups when the team won the
1997 Grey Cup held in
Edmonton, Alberta. With Flutie at quarterback, the Argonauts set a record for most consecutive completions in a Grey Cup game with 10, which occurred between the first and second quarters. From the late second quarter to the fourth quarter, this record was rewritten when Flutie completed 12 consecutive passes. For his performance in the Grey Cup, he won his third Grey Cup MVP award. Prior to his final two Grey Cup victories with the Argonauts, Flutie was hampered by the opinion, supported by the media, that he was a quarterback who could not win in cold weather. In both 1993 and 1994, the Stampeders had the best record in the league, but lost the Western Final each year at home in freezing conditions. After first refusing to wear gloves in freezing temperatures, in later years, Flutie adapted to throwing with gloves in cold weather. Flutie credits his time in the CFL with helping him develop as a pro quarterback. Flutie specifically states that he modeled his game off of fellow CFL quarterback
Damon Allen. Upon completion of his CFL career, Flutie had set numerous CFL career records: • 5,000+ yard passing seasons (6) • consecutive 5,000+ yard passing seasons (4) • 6,000+ passing yards in a season twice in a career (also a pro football record) • 300-yard passing games (74) • 400-yard passing games in a career (29) • 6 Most Outstanding Player awards Flutie ranked third in the following all-time regular season CFL passing categories: yards (41,355), touchdowns (270), completions (2,975), and he ranked fourth in all-time attempts (4,854). In all-time Grey Cup passing categories, Flutie held the record for most attempts (171), completions (108), and yards (1,421). Other passing accomplishments upon completion of his CFL career included: • leading the CFL in yards five times in only eight seasons • holding four of the CFL's top five highest single-season completion marks • holding three of the CFL's top five highest single-season yardage marks • holding the top three single-season touchdown marks • gaining 9,500+ yards for three different CFL franchises • setting the single season individual records for three different CFL franchises in attempts, completions, yards, and touchdowns: • since surpassed On November 17, 2006, Flutie was named the greatest Canadian Football League player of all time from a top 50 list of CFL players conducted by
TSN. In 2007, he was named to
Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, the first non-Canadian to be inducted.
Buffalo Bills The
Buffalo Bills' then-pro personnel director
A. J. Smith convinced the organization that Flutie would be a great asset to the team, and the Bills signed him in the 1998 offseason. The Bills' attempt at making
Todd Collins their starting quarterback was a failure, and Flutie was one of two quarterbacks, the other being
Rob Johnson (the presumptive starter), to join the Bills in the 1998 offseason. In his first action with the Bills, Flutie entered for an injured Johnson and threw two touchdowns while leading a fourth-quarter comeback against the
Indianapolis Colts on October 11, 1998. The following week, Flutie made his first NFL start since October 15, 1989, against the unbeaten
Jacksonville Jaguars. The nine-year gap between starts for a quarterback in the NFL is the third-longest in duration behind
Tommy Maddox (December 12, 1992, to October 6, 2002) and the man Flutie replaced, Todd Collins (December 14, 1997, to December 16, 2007). Flutie was the hero of the Bills' victory as he scored the winning touchdown against the Jaguars by rolling out on a bootleg and into the end zone on a fourth-down play in the waning seconds. The Bills' success continued with Flutie at the helm; his record as a starter that season was 8 wins and 3 losses. He then threw for 360 yards in a wild card playoff loss at Miami. Flutie was selected to play in the 1998
Pro Bowl and is currently the shortest quarterback to make the Pro Bowl since 1970. Flutie led the Bills to an 11–5 record in 1999 (10–5 with Flutie as the starter; he was rested for the final game of the season after the Bills clinched a playoff berth). In a controversial decision which football analyst Aaron Schatz said was "the wrong decision on one of the most mismatched quarterback controversies of all time", Flutie was replaced by Johnson for the playoffs by coach
Wade Phillips, who later said he was ordered by Bills owner
Ralph Wilson to do so. Johnson completed only ten passes, none for touchdowns, and was sacked six times, as the Bills lost 22–16 to the eventual AFC Champion
Tennessee Titans. The game has become known as the
Music City Miracle, as the Titans scored on the penultimate play of the game—a kickoff return following the Bills' apparent game-clinching field goal. The following season, Flutie was named the Bills' backup and played only late in games or when Johnson was injured, which was often. During the season, Flutie had a 4–1 record as a starter, while Johnson's was 4–7. In a December 24, 2000 game against the
Seattle Seahawks, Flutie
achieved a perfect passer rating, completing 20 of 25 passes for 366 yards and three touchdowns. After the 2000 season, Bills President
Tom Donahoe and head coach
Gregg Williams decided to keep Johnson as the starter and cut Flutie.
San Diego Chargers In 2001, Flutie signed with the
San Diego Chargers, who had gone 1–15 in 2000. After opening 3–0, the Chargers slumped and were 4–2 going into Week 7, when Flutie's Chargers met Rob Johnson's Bills. Flutie prevailed as the new ex-Bill broke a sack attempt and ran 13 yards for the game-winning touchdown. It would be the last win for the Chargers in 2001, as they dropped their last nine games to finish 5–11 and cost head coach
Mike Riley his job. (Buffalo finished 3–13 with Johnson and, later,
Alex Van Pelt as starters.) Flutie was
Drew Brees' backup in 2002. Brees idolized Flutie growing up, and credits Flutie with mentoring him during their time together at San Diego. In 2003, Flutie replaced a struggling Brees when the Chargers were 1–7. The 41-year-old Flutie became the oldest player to score two rushing touchdowns in a game, the first player over 40 to accomplish that feat. He also became the oldest AFC Offensive Player of the Week, winning the award for the fourth time. On January 2, 2005, the season finale of the 2004 season, Flutie broke
Jerry Rice's record set two weeks prior, to become the oldest player ever to score a touchdown, at 42 years and 71 days. Rice was 42 years and 67 days when he made his touchdown. Flutie's record as a starter that year was 2–3. He was released by the Chargers on March 13, 2005.
New England Patriots (second stint) Flutie surprised many when he signed with the Patriots instead of the
New York Giants. He became the backup behind
Tom Brady and played several times at the end of games to take a few snaps. Flutie has a 37–28 record as an NFL starter, including a 22–9 record in home games. Referring to his time in the Canadian Football League (and, presumably, to the quarterback's relatively diminutive stature), television football commentator
John Madden once said, "Inch for inch, Flutie in his prime was the best quarterback of his generation." In a December 26, 2005 game against the
New York Jets, Flutie was sent in late in the game. The Jets also sent in their back-up quarterback,
Vinny Testaverde. This was the first time in NFL history that two quarterbacks over the age of 40 competed against each other (Testaverde was 42, Flutie was 43). In the Patriots' regular-season finale against the
Miami Dolphins on January 1, 2006, Flutie successfully
drop kicked a football for an
extra point, something that was not done in a regular-season NFL game since 1941. It was Flutie's first kick attempt in the NFL, and earned him that week's title of AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. Patriots head coach
Bill Belichick, known for his knowledge of the history of the game, made comments that suggested that the play was a retirement present of sorts for his veteran quarterback, although Flutie made no comment on whether 2005 would be his last season. There is a video of Flutie describing the event in his own words. During the 2006 off-season, Flutie's agent Kristen Kuliga stated he was interested in returning to the Patriots for another season; as a result, he was widely expected to return, despite his age. However, on May 15, 2006, Flutie announced his decision to "hang up his helmet" at the age of 43 and retire. Flutie was the second-to-last former
USFL player to retire, behind
Sean Landeta, who last played in the same season of Flutie's retirement (but did not formally retire until 2008).
Near-return to the CFL Because of injuries with the
Toronto Argonauts, Flutie was contemplating a temporary comeback with the team as of July 25, 2006. Flutie did not plan to play long-term, for he had planned on doing college football commentary on
ESPN in the coming season. On August 18, 2006, a story was published on CFL.ca examining this topic in-depth. Flutie was pondering a return to the CFL because of his relationship with Argonauts
head coach and former
running back Pinball Clemons, and the desire to "say goodbye to the CFL". According to the report, Flutie was poised to return to Toronto on July 22, after their victory over the
Saskatchewan Roughriders and the injury to backup quarterback
Spergon Wynn. Nevertheless, Flutie chose to stay in retirement. ==Legacy==