For the subject of greatest accomplishment in sports, I sat trying to think of which record stood out the most. Was it Ty Cobb’s .366 career batting average, or Cy Young’s 511 wins? Should it be Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 record or Bill Russell’s 11 championships?
But then I thought I’d take this another way, instead of looking for that great career record or some single game achievement, I thought I’d take a look at a player. Look at a career and find in it greatness, and who did I look to but Doug Flutie.
Doug Flutie is the quarterback you couldn’t help but love. He was always a fan favorite who between three leagues logged in 21 years of professional play. Playing his high-school ball in Natick Massachusetts, Flutie went on to play quarterback for Boston College.
It was there that his magic began to shine. In 1984, Flutie achieved some of the things he is best known for. It was this senior season that Flutie threw for 3,454 yards and 27 touchdowns, while winning the Heisman Trophy, but more importantly, there was “the pass”.
The day after thanksgiving, Flutie and his BC Eagles played against the highly touted Miami Hurricanes. Lead by Bernie Kosar, the Hurricanes seemed to be an unstoppable force. But the Eagles fought them every inch of the way. After Kosar lead his team on a dramatic drive that would give the Hurricanes a 45-41 lead, Flutie came out and completed two quick passes that left six seconds on the clock.
On the final play of the game, Flutie dropped back in the pocket and scrambled around until he tossed up that fateful Hail Mary that was caught in the end zone by wide receiver, and roommate, Gerard Phelan. This play not only won BC the game, but has gone down as one of football's greatest moments.
Regardless of his solid collegiate career, the NFL would not take the 5’9" quarterback seriously, deeming him too short to play the position at the pro level. So it was with the USFL’s New Jersey Generals that Flutie would play his first professional season, a season in which he threw for over 2,000 yards and 13 touchdowns in 15 games. Upon the collapse of the league, Flutie went to the NFL, were he spent his first three season not doing much, and only playing in six games.
However, with the NFL players' strike in ’87, Flutie took his chance and crossed the picket lines to start playing for the New England Patriots. After 17 games and some 1,800 yards in three seasons with the Patriots, Flutie left for the Canadian Football League, signing with the British Columbia Lions.
Struggling in his first CFL season, Flutie and the Lions went 6-11. Over the next seven seasons, Flutie wouldn’t post a losing record again. After throwing over 450 completions for more then 6,500 yards and earning the Most Outstanding Player award with the Lions in 1991, Flutie signed with the Calgary Stampeders.
Soon after, he won his first Grey Cup, a game in which he was named Grey Cup MVP. Over his eight year career, Flutie won three Grey Cups, earning the MVP award in each, earned seven Most Outstanding Player awards, and threw more than 40,000 yards and 250 touchdowns. In 1998, Flutie left the CFL for a return to the NFL.
After four games and a 1-3 record, the Buffalo Bills gave Flutie the starting quarterback job. In his first start, he led the team to a fourth-quarter comeback, throwing two touchdowns, to beat the Indianapolis Colts. With Flutie taking the reins, the Bills won eight more games and ended their season with a 9-6 record, and earned his first Pro-Bowl appearance and the Comeback Player of the Year award.
After leading the team to a 10-5 record in ’99, Flutie was replaced by Rob Johnson, and Flutie would eventually be cut after spending a year on the bench.
After throwing a career high 3,464 yards in 2001 with the Chargers, Flutie spent the next three years battling with Drew Brees for the starter’s job. In 2005, Flutie spent his last season in the NFL with the Patriots, playing back up to Tom Brady, and getting little play time. But he made some of it count by being the first player in 64 years to make a successful dropkick in a game against the Dolphins.
After that season, Flutie announced it was time to “hang up [his] helmet” and retire at the age of 43.
You can make the argument that as an NFL player, Flutie was nothing special; he just threw for 14,000 yards and 86 touchdowns in 13 seasons.
However, when you look at his combined career numbers, pooling the NFL, CFL, and USFL years, you can’t help but take notice. He’s played in 241 games, only five less than Fran Tarkenton, the NFL's all-time leader for games played by a quarterback.
His 58,179 yards, 369 touchdowns, and 4,286 completions would put him third on the NFL’s all-time list for all three categories. I think that’s pretty impressive for a guy who was too short to play quarterback.
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3 months ago
Flutie was truly one of the best QBs and the best-loved QBs both in Toronto where he would win many Grey Cups and in Calgary where he would take them to the Grey Cup Finals.
3 months ago
well written, ken, you make many good points.
3 months ago
Great article, Ken. Flutie was special, the fans loved him and to bad the NFL couldn't over look his size.
Certainly will never see a guy like him, to play in three different Leagues for over 21 years.
3 months ago
Ken, nicely done. Flutie is a class act. One example: In 1988, I was a reporter at the formerly named Sullivan Stadium in Foxborough when Flutie led the Pats to a 30-7 trouncing of his former Bears. I spent a lot of time in the Bears locker room postgame and when I got to the Pats locker room was surprised to see Flutie sititing by himself, not mobbed by reporters. I approached Flutie to interview him and he snapped at me and blew me off. Not thinking much of it, I turned away to find someone else to interview. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Flutie, apologizing for having treated me rudely. He explained that the team had set up a separate press conference with him and that it was just a few minutes away.
That exchange may seem like a small thing, but as reporter-pro athlete interactions go, it wasn't. Flutie's apology to a reporter he didn't know was as rare as his remarkable career.
from 3 months ago
Flutie was flung to the wolves by Ditka in 86. With McMahon hurt, and Fuller and Tomczak inefficient or injured also, Ditka, against the wishes of the Bears GM and Players, signed and started Flutie very late in the season.
The Bears were defending Super Champs, still a great team, but to throw Flutie, at 22, in to a playoff start, with only 2 games under his belt, was not right.
The Bear veteran players wanted a veteran to start at QB and let the Defense win but Ditka went with Flutie and Joe Gibb's Redskins handled them easily in Chicago 27-10. Though Flutie did fire the first TD a long pass to fast Willie Gault.
Flutie's backup, the Bears Steve Fuller, had beaten a better Redskins teams in a playoff game at RFK two years previous. So Ditka let his emotions not his head lose this game. Though I doubt the Bears would have beaten the Giants the next week anyway...
That game in 88 when Flutie and the Pats beat the Bears they also knocked McMahon out for the rest of the regulars season.
3 months ago
I completely disagree with your assertion that Doug Flutie's career is the single "greatest" accomplishment in sports. Based upon what, his records in the CFL? The fact that he made it in pro football at all?
Flutie was and still is by all accounts a great guy and both his career and personal life are compelling stories. But he was a lackluster performer in the NFL who was way over his head at QB.
In '99, when Johnson got hurt Flutie stepped in and did an admirable job. Upon Johnson's return, Flutie was demoted, the coaching staff thinking Johnson gave the Bills the best chance to win. Flutie went to the media about his demotion and the locker room split, undermining Buffalo's chances.
The reason Johnson got the start in the "Music City Miracle" game was an example of Flutie's biggest short coming at QB, getting the ball down field. He had a mediocre arm, couldn't see over the D-line, and wasn't that accurate. He had been exposed late in the year by the Giants, a sub-.500 team who beat Buffalo behind a strategy of make Flutie beat us with his arm, and he couldn't deliver.
He was a stop gap at best as an NFL QB, that's why he was constantly on the move.
Doug Flutie: Nice guy, great CFL player, great college career, great father and role model, ho hum NFL player. It takes more than that to convince me that his career was the greatest sports accomplishment.
3 months ago
Doug Flutie was a great player and is a great person, it would be hard for him not to be one of any football fans favourite players.
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