I still have a lot of the games recorded from back in that season. When Beuerlein came in to replace an injured Aikman in the huge upset of the undefeated Redskins by driving the bus competently, a visibly angry Aikman is seen walking off the field at the end of the game. Beuerlein then realing off 5 in a row including a playoff win over the Jim Harbaugh QB'd and Ditka coached Bears probably had Troy worried for his job. It sure lit a fire under his ass for 3 Super Bowls though!
BTW, Bill Bates had the game sealing pick of Harbaugh in that 91 wild card game.
This isn't exactly the way it happened. Aikman was angry because he knew the knee was fucked, he pounded his fist in the ground when it happened because he knew it was bad and he was going to miss time. They were also winning the game when he came out.
I was at the Atlanta game that ended the season (the game where Emmitt won his 1st rushing title) and the PA guy actually announced Aikman even though he wasn't a starter -he announced him as "and ready if called upon". Jimmy supposedly debated hard about whether to start or at least play Aikman in that game to get him ready for the playoff game the following week, but changed his mind because he didn't think Aikman was really 100% and stuck with Buerlein. Buerlein played ok vs Chicago but like the rest of the team was awful the following week vs Detroit and got benched.
There was never any point where Buerlein was a threat to Aikman as a permanent starter. I was at training camp in 1992 and there was never any "competition" for the starting job. Aikman was the starter from day one.