Of the 12 original USFL franchise locations, the city of Birmingham had an experience with an upstart football league challenging the NFL, as they had a successful team in the World Football League nearly a decade earlier. Playing their games at historic Legion Field, the Birmingham Stallions coached by Rollie Dotsch were a late forming team as they signed or claimed approximately 20 players via trades or waivers in the week prior to their first game.

Hosting the Michigan Panthers in the first Monday Night game the Stallions were hardly a cohesive unit as they lost 9-7 on their way to a 2-5 start. In Week 8, backup Bobby Lane replaced the struggling Reggie Collier at quarterback, and led the Stallions to a 21-9 win over the Oakland Invaders, sparking a five-game winning streak.

However, running up against some of the best teams in the league, Birmingham struggled down the stretch losing four of five, before ending the season with a 29-17 win over the Tampa Bay Bandits, to finish the year at 9-9. The Stallions were the top rushing team in the league as they rotated ball carriers and gained 3,012 yards with Ken Talton leading the way with 907 yards and five touchdowns.

The passing attack meanwhile struggled as the Stallions were one of the worst passing offenses in the USFL.