Not true. Flutie inherited a 1-3 team:
Rob Johnson had a relatively decent outing in week #5, beating the San Francisco '49ers by a score of 26-21. RJ's stat line for the game was 19-27-254-1-0
He got injured right at the start of the week 6 game vs. Indy. Flutie took over (&won) and the rest is (becoming depressingly ancient) history.
But your larger point about botching the QB situation in '99 still stands.
You definitely do not want to know the terrifying yet strangely compelling sequence of images that flooded my brain when I read the phrase "Mollydooker Velvet Glove shiraz."
Must be cool to see the future like you do. Tell me, if the refs hadn't made that horrible blown offsides call against Ohno on her dead breakaway, would that also have been a sure goal to put Japan up 1-0 ?
Of course I wouldn't. But maybe the OP hasn't met Rich.
(I've never met Rich either, but I've seen the pictures. I'm also pretty darn sure the answer would be "No" anyway.)