Birmingham Bulls

Inaugural Season
 **League/Conference Affiliations**
 League
 Conference
 Division
 General Manager
 Head Coach
 Conference
 Division
 Playoff Appearances

The Birmingham Bulls are a fictional professional American football team based in the Birmingham metropolitan area. The Bulls are a member of the United Football Conference (UFC) Coastal division in the Continental Football Association (CFA). The Bulls play their home games at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama.

## History

During the 2013 league year, the fledgling CFA awarded Birmingham a franchise to Brian Duper, the team would begin play during the next season. The Bulls would hire former Los Angeles QB Jeremiah McCray as the teams first head coach.

### **First Seasons (2014-2017)**

2014 marked the first season in Bulls franchise history. With the first pick in the 2014 expanison draft the Bulls selected CB Antone Wilson from Portland. *(See Bulls expansion draft picks)*Out of the 20 players selected, only five players remain with the team, including Wilson.

The Bulls had a combined 12-52 record through it's first four seasons under head coach Jeremiah McCray.

### **2014**

The Bulls first regular season game came against the eventual 2014 Continental Bowl runner up St. Louis Stallions, the Bulls lost 47-7, during the fourth quarter, Jesse Swain scored the Bulls first touchdown in franchise history on a eight yard pass from QB Monte Ivey.

The Bulls would go on to drop their next two contests against the Orlando Dragons and Costa Rica Howlers, dropping their record to 0-3.

Franchise win number one came in week four with a 30-6 tromping of the Columbus Gladiators, the +24 point margin remains the largest winning margin in franchise history. The Bulls would go on to win their next game 17-16 against the Alaska Kodiaks, Antone Wilson's 28 yard interception return for a touchdown won the game, with back to back wins, the Bulls record improved to 2-3.

After back to back wins, the Bulls lost the next ten games of the season, after losing earlier in the season to the Howlers, the Bulls would strike back with a 10 to 3 victory over Costa Rica in the Bulls season final. The Bulls would finish 3-13 in their first season.

### **2015**

The 2015 season started off with five straight losses, ending with a 21-16 win over the Colorado Mustangs in week 6. After the bye in week 7, the team would drop the next eight games, the losing streak came to stop with a 24-6 win over the Trinidad Sharks. The Bulls would close out 2015 with a 45-17 blow out loss to the West Texas Wranglers. The Bulls finished 2015 with a franchise low 2-14 record.

Despite the horrid 2-14 record, Birmingham sent LB's Kenneth Beck and Chase Burrell to the Pro Bowl, becoming the first two players in franchise history to recieve Pro Bowl honors.

### **2016**

The Bulls opened 2016 the same way they closed out 2015, a loss to West Texas. 2016 would turn out to be another miserable season. Losing their first three games, the Bulls were able to score their first win on the season with an upset over the Houston Pride, winning 34-21, the Pride would go on to finish 12-4 and win the Continental Bowl.

The Bulls would drop their next five over the course of seven weeks, with the losing streak coming to a close with a 17-10 win over Montreal in week 12, that would be their final win of the season, as they would go on to lose their next six contests and close out the season 2-14 for the second consecutive year.

LB Kenneth Beck, along with WR Elwood Ponder would represent Birmingham in the Pro Bowl, although fellow WR Jesse Swain was snubbed from the Pro Bowl with a stat line of 118/1251/4.

### **2017**

Birmingham would start the season with two losses, dropping eight straight dating back to the previous season. The Bulls saddled the Mustangs in week 3 with a 29-10 victory. It would take another four games, in five weeks for the Bulls to sniff another victory, defeating Columbus in week 9, 30-10. After the bye in week 10, the Bulls managed to win back to back games for the second time in franchise history with a clipping of the raptors, 24-17. Victory was short lived as the Bulls would lose the next four games. In week 16, the Bulls would provide another clipping service, this time to the Talons, with a 26-23 win. The following week the Bulls would again win back to back games with a 17-6 win over the Renegades, Birmingham would close out 2017 with a loss and an overall record of 5-11, which set a franchise best.

Despite the improved record, the Bulls failed to send a player to the Pro Bowl for the first time in two years.

### **Change in Ownership (2018-Present)**

Even with the improved record, Brian Duper began shopping the team during the off season.

For the first time in franchise history the Bulls opened the season with a 27-16 devenoming over the newly formed Carolina Cobra's. Despite the winning start, the Bulls would lose the next seven of eight, with a 37-14 win coming in week 5 over the Vicksburg Rebels.

After a loss to Los Angeles in week 9, Duper sold the team to Vincent Harrison. After the owner change Harrison relieved coach McCray of his duties. Jeremiah McCray finished with an overall record of 14-59.

Starting in week 10, John Teel was named the starting QB for the Bulls, the Bulls would go on to win their week 10 match up over the Legion, marking the first win for the new coach/ownership. Teel finished the game 23/36, throwing 273 yards and 3 TD's to 1 interception, with a 103.1 QB rating.

The Bulls would win their next game, 28-6, over the Bulldogs. Birmingham's first loss under new ownership came in week 12 against Washington in a 26-20 overtime defeat, the following week the Bulls would bounce back with a narrow victory over the Baltimore Tritons without QB Teel.

The Bulls would close out the season with three consecutive losses to division opponents, finishing with a 5-11 record for the second straight year. Before the ownership change the Bulls scored an average of 17.6 points and allowed 24.2 a game, after the ownership change they averaged 23.7 points and allowed 17.7 a game.