1985–86 NFL playoffs

The NFL playoffs following the 1985 NFL season led up to Super Bowl XX.

Because the Jets and Giants both used Giants Stadium as their home field, the two wild card playoff games were held on different days. Within each conference, the three division winners and the two non-division winners with the best overall regular season records qualified for the playoffs. The NFL did not use a fixed-bracket playoff system. The three division winners were seeded 1–3 based on their overall won-lost-tied record, and received a first-round bye while the wild card teams were seeded 4 and 5, and played in the first round, dubbed the wild-card playoffs or wild-card weekend, with the 4 seed hosting. The second round, the divisional playoffs, had a restriction where two teams from the same division could not meet: the surviving wild card team visited the division champion outside its division that had the higher seed, and the remaining two teams from that conference played each other. The two surviving teams from each conference's divisional playoff games then met in the respective AFC and NFC Conference Championship games, hosted by the higher seed. Finally the Super Bowl, the championship round of the playoffs, was played at a neutral site, with the designated home team based on an annual rotation by conference.

Playoff seeds
Seed	AFC	NFC
1	[[Los Angeles Raiders]] (West winner)	[[Chicago Bears]] (Central winner)
2	[[Miami Dolphins]] (East winner)	[[Los Angeles Rams]] (West winner)
3	[[Cleveland Browns]] (Central winner)	[[Dallas Cowboys]] (East winner)
4	[[New York Jets]] (wild card)	[[New York Giants]] (wild card)
5	[[New England Patriots]] (wild card)	[[San Francisco 49ers]] (wild card)

Bracket

						Jan 4 – Anaheim Stadium
						3	Dallas	0
	Dec 29 – Giants Stadium										Jan 12 – Soldier Field
						2	LA Rams	20
						NFC
	5	San Francisco	3								2	LA Rams	0
						Jan 5 – Soldier Field
	4	NY Giants	17								1	Chicago	24
											NFC Championship
						4	NY Giants	0
																Jan 26 – Louisiana Superdome
						1	Chicago	21
						Divisional playoffs
	Wild Card playoffs															N1	Chicago	46
						Jan 5 – Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
																A5	New England	10
																Super Bowl XX
						5	New England	27
	Dec 28 – Giants Stadium										Jan 12 – Miami Orange Bowl
						1	LA Raiders	20
						AFC
	5	New England	26								5	New England	31
						Jan 4 – Miami Orange Bowl
	4	NY Jets	14								2	Miami	14
											AFC Championship
						3	Cleveland	21
						2	Miami	24

Wild Card playoffs

December 28, 1985

AFC: New England Patriots 26, New York Jets 14

Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Patriots	3	10	10	3	26
Jets	0	7	7	0	14

at Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey

• Game time: 4:00 p.m. EST
• Game weather: 31 °F (−1 °C), mostly cloudy
• Game attendance: 75,945
• Referee: Jerry Seeman
• TV announcers (NBC): Marv Albert and Bob Griese

Game information
Scoring NE - field goal Franklin 33 NE 3-0 NYJ - Hector 11 pass from O'Brien (Leahy kick) NYJ 7-3 NE - field goal Franklin 41 NYJ 7-6 NE - Morgan 36 pass from Eason (Franklin kick) NE 13-7 NE - field goal Franklin 20 NE 16-7 NE - Rembert 15 fumble return (Franklin kick) NE 23-7 NYJ - Shuler 12 pass from Ryan (Leahy kick) NE 23-14 NE - field goal Franklin 26 NE 26-14

In the NFL's first ever playoff game at Giants Stadium, the Patriots dominated the Jets by forcing 4 turnovers and 5 sacks. New England jumped to 3-0 lead in the first quarter after Tony Franklin made a 33-yard field goal. Then after New York scored on quarterback Ken O'Brien's 11-yard touchdown pass to running back Johnny Hector, Franklin kicked his second field goal for 41 yards. Late in the second quarter, safety Fred Marion intercepted a pass from O'Brien to set up Tony Eason's 36-yard touchdown pass to Stanley Morgan, giving New England a 13-7 halftime lead. In the third period, Franklin made a 20-yard field goal to give the Patriots a 16-7 lead and on the ensuing kickoff, Hector was stripped of the ball by LB Johnny Rembert, who then picked up the fumble and returned it 15 yards for a touchdown, which gave the Patriots a commanding 23-7 lead, but the Jets cut the lead to 23-14 late in the 3rd quarter when Pat Ryan, in at QB for the injured Ken O'Brien, threw a 12-yard TD pass to Mickey Shuler. Late in the 4th quarter, Franklin later made his fourth field goal of the game, a 26-yarder, to close out the scoring.

December 29, 1985

NFC: New York Giants 17, San Francisco 49ers 3

Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
49ers	0	3	0	0	3
Giants	3	7	7	0	17

at Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey

• Game time: 1:00 p.m. EST
• Game weather: 36 °F (2 °C), mostly cloudy
• Game attendance: 75,131
• Referee: Red Cashion
• TV announcers (CBS): Pat Summerall and John Madden

Game information
Scoring NYG - field goal Schubert 47 NYG 3-0 NYG - Bavaro 18 pass from Simms (Schubert kick) NYG 10-0 SF - field goal Wersching 21 NYG 10-3 NYG - Hasselbeck 3 pass from Simms (Schubert kick) NYG-17-3

In the Giants first home playoff game since 1962, despite the fact that the 49ers recorded 362 yards of total offense, with receiver Dwight Clark catching 8 passes for 120 yards, the Giants defense limited San Francisco to only one field goal the entire game, a 21-yard field goal by Ray Wersching in the 2nd quarter. Meanwhile, New York running back Joe Morris rushed for 141 yards. The Giants scored on their opening possession of the game with kicker Eric Schubert's 47-yard field goal. Then in the second quarter, New York defensive back Terry Kinard intercepted a pass from 49ers quarterback Joe Montana to set up Phil Simms' 18-yard touchdown pass to tight end Mark Bavaro. A 77-yard drive in the third quarter was capped by Simms' 3-yard touchdown pass to tight end Don Hasselbeck which capped off the scoring for the day.

Divisional playoffs

January 4, 1986

AFC: Miami Dolphins 24, Cleveland Browns 21

Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Browns	7	7	7	0	21
Dolphins	3	0	14	7	24

at Miami Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida

• Game time: 12:30 p.m. EST
• Game weather: 77 °F (25 °C), mostly cloudy
• Game attendance: 74,667
• Referee: Pat Haggerty
• TV announcers (NBC): Don Criqui and Bob Trumpy

Game information
Scoring MIA - field goal Reveiz 51 MIA 3-0 CLE - Newsome 16 pass from Kosar (Bahr kick) CLE 7-3 CLE - Byner 21 run (Bahr kick) CLE 14-3 CLE - Byner 66 run (Bahr kick) CLE 21-3 MIA - Moore 6 pass from Marino (Reveiz kick)CLE 21-10 MIA - Davenport 31 run (Reveiz kick) CLE 21-17 MIA - Davenport 1 run (Reveiz kick) MIA 24-21

Barely making the playoffs with an 8-8 record, Cleveland hardly seemed a match for the 12-4 defending AFC champion Dolphins. However, the Browns jumped to a 21-3 lead midway through the third period, but the Dolphins then scored 21 unanswered points—the final touchdown with 1:57 left to play.

Aided by a 17-yard run from Woody Bennett on the first play of the game, Miami scored on their opening drive with a 51-yard field goal by Fuad Reveiz. Cleveland later marched 82 yards in 10 plays, mainly on the strength of their ground game, with [[Kevin Mack rushing for 12, Curtis Dickey picking up 9, and Ernest Byner's 15-yard carry taking them into the red zone. Bernie Kosar eventually finished the drive with a 16-yard touchdown pass to tight end Ozzie Newsome to give the Browns a 7-3 lead.

In the second quarter, Miami got two big chances to score, but came up empty both times. First, they threatened to score with a drive to a first down on the Cleveland 36-yard line. But the Browns defense stepped up, forcing two incompletions and a run for no gain, and the Dolphins decided to punt rather then risk another long field goal. On the Browns next drive, Dolphins defensive back Paul Lankford intercepted Kosar and returned the ball to the Cleveland 25-yard line. Miami then drove to the 6-yard line, only to lose the ball when Marino was picked off in the end zone by Browns safety Don Rogers, who returned it 45 yards to set up a 21-yard rushing touchdown from Byner, increasing the lead to 14-3. Miami responded with a drive to the Browns 29-yard line, but Reveiz missed a 47-yard field goal attempt as time expired in the half.

Byner then ran for a 66-yard touchdown in the third quarter, the longest play in Cleveland's post season history, to give Cleveland a 21-3 lead. However, Miami then controlled the rest of the game. A 74-yard drive was capped by Marino's 6-yard touchdown pass to Nat Moore. Then running back Ron Davenport scored on a 31-yard touchdown. Davenport's winning touchdown, a 1-yard run with 1:57 left in the game, capped a 73-yard drive.

Byner finished the game with 161 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on just 16 carries, while also catching 4 passes for 25 yards. Miami running back Tony Nathan rushed for 21 yards and caught 10 passes for 101 yards.

NFC: Los Angeles Rams 20, Dallas Cowboys 0

Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Cowboys	0	0	0	0	0
Rams	3	0	10	7	20

at Anaheim Stadium, Anaheim, California

• Game time: 4:00 p.m. EST/1:00 p.m. PST
• Game weather: 67 °F (19 °C), fog, drizzle
• Game attendance: 66,581
• Referee: Dick Jorgensen
• TV announcers (CBS): Jack Buck, Hank Stram and Dick Vermeil

Game information
Scoring RAMS - field goal Lansford 33 RAMS 3-0 RAMS - Dickerson 55 run (Lansford kick) RAMS 10-0 RAMS - field goal Lansford 34 RAMS 13-0 RAMS - Dickerson 40 run (Lansford kick) RAMS 20-0

Running back Eric Dickerson led the Rams to a victory by scoring two touchdowns and recording a playoff record 248 rushing yards. After the first half ended with a 3-0 Los Angeles lead, Dickerson scored on a 55-yard touchdown run early in the third period. On the ensuing kickoff, Kenny Duckett fumbled, and the ball was recovered by Vince Newsome to set up kicker Mike Lansford's second field goal. In the fourth period, Tony Hunter recovered a fumbled punt to set up Dickerson's 40-yard rushing touchdown. This was Tom Landry's final postseason game as the Cowboys head coach.

January 5, 1986

NFC: Chicago Bears 21, New York Giants 0

Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Giants	0	0	0	0	0
Bears	7	0	14	0	21

at Soldier Field, Chicago

• Game time: 12:30 p.m. EST/11:30 a.m. CST
• Game weather: 19 °F (−7 °C), sunny, breezy
• Game attendance: 65,670
• Referee: Ben Dreith
• TV announcers (CBS): Pat Summerall and John Madden

Game information
Scoring CHI - Gayle 5 punt return (Butler kick) CHI 7-0 CHI - McKinnon 23 pass from McMahon (Butler kick) CHI 14-0 CHI - McKinnon 20 pass from McMahon (Butler kick) CHI 21-0

The Bears defense dominated the game by allowing only 32 rushing yards and sacked Giants quarterbacks for 60 yards. Giants quarterback Phil Simms was sacked 7 times during the game, 3½ of them coming from Chicago defensive end Richard Dent.

Chicago's first touchdown resulted on a New York punt attempt from their own 12-yard line. As Sean Landeta dropped the ball to kick it, the wind altered the ball's decent and caused it to go off the side of his foot. As a result, the ball went right into the ground and bounced just a few yards before Shaun Gayle picked it up and ran 5 yards for a touchdown. Gayle's run was the shortest punt return touchdown in NFL history. Bears quarterback Jim McMahon later threw two touchdown passes in the third period, both to Dennis McKinnon. McMahon finished the game with 216 passing yards, while running back Walter Payton rushed for 94 yards.

AFC: New England Patriots 27, Los Angeles Raiders 20

Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Patriots	7	10	10	0	27
Raiders	3	17	0	0	20

at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles

• Game time: 4:00 p.m. EST/1:00 p.m. PST
• Game weather: 62 °F (17 °C), fog
• Game attendance: 87,163
• Referee: Jerry Markbreit
• TV announcers (NBC): Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen

Game information
Scoring NE - Dawson 13 pass from Eason (Franklin kick) NE 7-0 RAI - field goal Bahr 29 NE 7-3 RAI - Hester 16 pass from Wilson (Bahr kick) RAI 10-7 RAI - Allen 11 run (Bahr kick) RAI 17-7 NE - James 2 run (Franklin kick) RAI 17-14 NE - field goal Franklin 45 17-17 RAI - field goal Bahr 32 RAI 20-17 NE - field goal Franklin 32 20-20 NE - Bowman recovered fumble in end zone (Franklin kick) NE 27-20

New England running back Craig James rushed for 104 yards, caught 3 passes for 48 yards and scored a touchdown while the Patriots converted 6 Raiders turnovers into 17 points. In the first quarter, a fumble by Raiders punt returner Fulton Walker set up Patriots tight end Lin Dawson's 13-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Tony Eason. Los Angeles then scored 17 unanswered points: a 29-field goal by Chris Bahr, a 16-yard touchdown reception by Jessie Hester, and Marcus Allen's 11-yard rushing touchdown. New England then scored with James' 2-yard run, and later tied the game at 17, after Ronnie Lippett's interception set up Tony Franklin's 45-yard field goal. But Bahr kicked a 32-yard field goal with 6 second left in the half to give the Raiders a 20-17 lead. In the third period, Franklin made a 32-yard field goal to tie the game. On the ensuing kickoff, Sam Seale fumbled and Jim Bowman recovered the loose ball in the end zone for the game-clinching touchdown.

Conference championships

January 12, 1986

NFC Championship: Chicago Bears 24, Los Angeles Rams 0

Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Rams	0	0	0	0	0
Bears	10	0	7	7	24

at Soldier Field, Chicago

• Game time: 12:30 p.m. EST/11:30 a.m. CST
• Game weather: 37 °F (3 °C), cloudy, snow showers
• Game attendance: 66,030
• Referee: Jim Tunney
• TV announcers (CBS): Pat Summerall and John Madden

Game information
Scoring CHI - McMahon 16 run (Butler kick) CHI 7-0 CHI - field goal Butler 34 CHI 10-0 CHI - Gault 22 pass from McMahon (Butler kick) CHI 17-0 CHI - Marshall 52 fumble return (Butler kick) CHI 24-0

The Bears defense dominated the game by limiting Rams running back Eric Dickerson to 46 yards, and holding quarterback Dieter Brock to 10 out of 31 completions for 66 passing yards. Los Angeles only gained 130 yards of total offense. The Rams had a chance to get back in the game as they got inside the Bears' 15-yard line in the waning moments of the first half. But poor play calling and clock management resulted in the clock running out. Chicago quarterback Jim McMahon scored on a 16-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, and later threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Willie Gault in the third quarter. Kicker Kevin Butler kicked a 34-yard field goal in the first period. In the fourth quarter, defensive lineman Richard Dent forced Brock to fumble, and linebacker Wilber Marshall picked up the loose ball and returned it 52 yards for a touchdown.

AFC Championship: New England Patriots 31, Miami Dolphins 14

Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Patriots	3	14	7	7	31
Dolphins	0	7	0	7	14

at Miami Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida

• Game time: 4:00 p.m. EST
• Game weather: 65 °F (18 °C), rain
• Game attendance: 75,662
• Referee: Gene Barth
• TV announcers (NBC): Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen

Game information
Scoring NE - field goal Franklin 23 NE 3-0 MIA - Johnson 11 pass from Marino (Reveiz kick) MIA 3-7 NE - Collins 4 pass from Eason (Franklin kick) NE 10-7 NE - Ramsey 1 pass from Eason (Franklin kick) NE 17-7 NE - Weathers 2 pass from Eason (Franklin kick)NE 24-7 MIA - Nathan 10 pass from Marino (Reveiz kick) MIA 24-14 NE - Tatupu 1 run (Franklin kick) NE 31-14

In an upset, the Patriots converted 6 Dolphins turnovers into 24 points. On Miami's first offensive play, running back Tony Nathan fumbled, and Patriots defensive end Garin Veris recovered the ball to set up Tony Franklin's 23-yard field goal. The Dolphins then marched on an 80-yard drive to score on quarterback Dan Marino's 11-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dan Johnson. But New England responded on a 66-yard possession to score on quarterback Tony Eason's 4-yard touchdown to Tony Collins. A fumble by Dwight Stephenson then led to Eason's 1-yard touchdown to Derrick Ramsey to give the Patriots a 17-7 lead. Just before halftime Miami missed the chance to cut the deficit down to 3 points when tight end Dan Johnson dropped a pass from Marino in the end zone on a 1st and 10 from the Patriots' 16. As the next two plays fell short of a first down, Miami settled for a field goal from the Patriots' 14 yards, but Fuad Reveiz' kick sailed wide to the right after a badly taken snap. Miami's Lorenzo Hampton then lost a fumble on the opening kickoff of the second half, and Eason converted the turnover into a 2-yard touchdown pass to running back Robert Weathers. The Dolphins finally scored again in the final period with Nathan's 10-yard touchdown reception to cut the deficit to 24-14, but New England's Mosi Tatupu later recorded a 1-yard touchdown to close out the scoring. Patriots running back Craig James was their main contributor on offense, rushing for a career postseason high 105 yards of the Patriots 255 total rushing yards in a game played in a steady rain. The win was the first for the Patriots at the Orange Bowl since 1966, the Dolphins inaugural season, ending a string of 18 consecutive losses by the Patriots in Miami and earning the Patriots their first trip to the Super Bowl in franchise history.

Super Bowl XX: Chicago Bears 46, New England Patriots 10

Further information: Super Bowl XX

Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears (NFC)	13	10	21	2	46
Patriots (AFC)	3	0	0	7	10

at Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana

• Date: January 26, 1986
• Game attendance: 73,818
• Referee: Red Cashion
• TV announcers (NBC): Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen

References

• Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (ISBN 0-06-270174-6)
• The Sporting News Complete Super Bowl Book 1995 (ISBN 0-89204-523-X)