I’m not sure if there is a more discussed APBA Football card than Jim McMahon’s 1985 card (see above). During the 1985 season, Jim McMahon posted a completion percentage of 56.9. I realize there are countless factors which impact the performance of a QB’s card ranging from hot or cold dice, frequency in A, B, or C passing indexes, defensive alignment, keying, blitzing, nickel or dime defenses to name a few. Each time that I used his card over the years, it underperformed for me. So much to the point, that I quit using this card set and eventually sold it.
His card has become a topic of conversation again, ever since I’ve started a replay of this season with an exclusive card set created for me by Mark Zarb. Now, Jim hasn’t thrown a pass yet in my replay and I have no idea how his card will perform but when I input his passing numbers into my unofficial “QB Calculator” posted on my site, it estimates a completion percentage of 56.6. When I input the “Official” card above, it estimates a 48.3 completion percentage.
The card I will be using during this replay is displayed below.
Photo of original card reproduced nicely; never noticed the cutoff j-4 at lower left. If I were playing the ’85 Bears, I’d be eager to throw Payton and Suhey into the line, with an ever-so-infrequent toss by Mr. Headband.