Martin immediately jumped into a starting role once he was signed by the Green Bay Packers. He signed with the Packers after he was not selected in the Supplemental Draft.
1986 McMahon incident
On November 23, 1986, in week 12 of the 1986 NFL season, the 10-2 Chicago Bears met the 2-10 Packers in a regular season game. During pre-game warm-ups, Martin displayed a white hand-towel with a list of five Bears offensive players' numbers: 9 for Jim McMahon, 34 for Walter Payton, 83 for Willie Gault, 63 for Jay Hilgenberg and 29 for Dennis Gentry. Martin wore the towel during the game. He allegedly claimed that it was a hit-list. On a 3rd down play, Bears quarterback Jim McMahon threw an interception down the field to Mark Lee. At least two seconds after the play was over and McMahon was walking to the sidelines, Martin grabbed him from behind and body-slammed him shoulder first to the ground. McMahon landed full force on his previously injured shoulder, a situation exacerbated by Soldier Field's artificial turf surface of the time. Referee Jerry Markbreit considered himself lucky to have seen Martin's hit at all, given his attention was supposed to have been directed downfield at the site of the interception. After Martin's action, Bears offensive linemanJim Covert retaliated against Martin with a late hit of his own, and two offsetting flags were thrown. Markbreit explained what happened next, As Markbreit walked to the Packers sideline and told coach Forrest Gregg "This man is ejected from the game," Bears coach Mike Ditka ran out onto the field demanding an explanation for two flags having been thrown. The officials decided to pick up the flag for Covert's late hit and penalize only Martin and the Packers, given the egregiousness of the hit. Markbreit said, in a 2012 interview, "it was the most violent act of its day." Martin was ejected from the game and further and suspended for two games. The ejection set a precedent that any violent act that is not considered part of the game is grounds for ejection from a game. McMahon, who was already playing with a rotator cuff tear, suffered further damage requiring surgery, and which kept him out of competition for the rest of the 1986 season. After the game, the Packers defensive coordinator initially defended Martin, saying "We tell people that if we intercept a pass, go get anybody near you." This was the first multi-game suspension for an on-field incident in modern NFL history. Martin played for the Packers from 1984–1987. He was cut early in the 1987 season after being implicated in a Green Bay bar fight.
He closed out his career with the Falcons in 1988, the only season in which he did not start a game.
Personal life
Martin was suspended two games in 1986 due to an incident at a bar. He later went into alcohol abuse treatment, and divorced both of his wives. He was arrested for disorderly conduct in 1987 for throwing an egg at the car of an NFL replacement player. Martin died in 2005 at age 45 in Houston due to complications from kidney failure.
