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Season of National Football League team the New England Patriots; first Super Bowl appearance
Craig James rushes the ball past the Dolphins' defense in the AFC Championship game.
The 1985 New England Patriots season was the franchise's 16th season in the National Football League (NFL) and 26th overall. The Patriots had a record of eleven wins and five losses and finished third in the AFC East Division. They then became the first team in NFL history ever to advance to the Super Bowl by winning three playoff games on the road, defeating the New York Jets 26–14 in the AFC Wild Card Game, the Los Angeles Raiders 27–20 in the AFC Divisional Game and the Miami Dolphins 31–14 in the AFC Championship Game. The Patriots' win in Miami was their first victory in that stadium since 1966 and while they did defeat Miami on the road in 1969 that game was played in Tampa Bay. The win over the Dolphins in the game has gone down as one of the greatest upsets in NFL history, as the Dolphins were heavily favored.[ 3]
But despite the Patriots' success in the playoffs, they proved unable to compete with the acclaimed 15–1 Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XX , losing 46–10 in what was at the time the most lopsided defeat in Super Bowl history. The Patriots were held to a Super Bowl record of just 7 rushing yards and their quarterbacks, Tony Eason and Steve Grogan, were sacked a combined 7 times by the powerful Bears defense.
"We couldn't protect the quarterback and that was my fault. I couldn't come up with a system to handle the Bears' pass rush," head coach Raymond Berry acknowledged.[ 4]
Personnel
Staff
1985 New England Patriots staff
Front office
Head coaches
Offensive coaches
Defensive coaches
Special teams coaches
Strength and conditioning
Roster
1985 New England Patriots final roster
Quarterbacks
Running backs
Wide receivers
Tight ends
Offensive linemen
Defensive linemen
Linebackers
Defensive backs
Special teams
Reserve lists
Rookies in italics
Schedule
Week
Date
Opponent
Result
Record
Venue
Attendance
1
September 8
Green Bay Packers
W 26–20
1–0
Sullivan Stadium
49,488
2
September 15
at Chicago Bears
L 7–20
1–1
Soldier Field
60,533
3
September 22
at Buffalo Bills
W 17–14
2–1
Rich Stadium
40,334
4
September 29
Los Angeles Raiders
L 20–35
2–2
Sullivan Stadium
60,686
5
October 6
at Cleveland Browns
L 20–24
2–3
Cleveland Municipal Stadium
62,139
6
October 13
Buffalo Bills
W 28–6
3–3
Sullivan Stadium
40,462
7
October 20
New York Jets
W 20–13
4–3
Sullivan Stadium
58,163
8
October 27
at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
W 32–14
5–3
Tampa Stadium
34,661
9
November 3
Miami Dolphins
W 17–13
6–3
Sullivan Stadium
58,811
10
November 10
Indianapolis Colts
W 34–15
7–3
Sullivan Stadium
54,176
11
November 17
at Seattle Seahawks
W 20–13
8–3
Kingdome
60,345
12
November 24
at New York Jets
L 13–16 (OT)
8–4
Giants Stadium
74,100
13
December 1
at Indianapolis Colts
W 38–31
9–4
Hoosier Dome
56,740
14
December 8
Detroit Lions
W 23–6
10–4
Sullivan Stadium
59,078
15
December 16
at Miami Dolphins
L 27–30
10–5
Miami Orange Bowl
69,489
16
December 22
Cincinnati Bengals
W 34–23
11–5
Sullivan Stadium
57,953
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Game summaries
Week 1
1
2 3 4 Total
Packers
0
6 0 14
20
• Patriots
7
12 0 7
26
Date: September 8Location: Sullivan Stadium Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game attendance: 49,488Game weather: 74 °F (23 °C); wind 10 mph (16 km/h)Referee: Bob McElwee TV announcers (CBS): Jim Hill and John Dockery
Scoring summary Q1 9:33 NE Collins 11 yard run (Franklin kick)NE 7–0
Q2 11:40 NE Franklin 34 yard field goal NE 10–0
Q2 10:24 NE Dickey tackled by Blackmon in end zoneNE 12–0
Q2 2:20 GB Ellis 1 yard run (kick failed)NE 12–6
Q2 0:08 NE Jones 3 yard pass from Eason (Franklin kick)NE 19–6
Q4 6:23 NE James 65 yard run (Franklin kick)NE 26–6
Q4 3:51 GB Coffman 8 yard pass from Dickey (Del Greco kick)NE 26–13
Q4 0:25 GB Clark 23 yard run (Del Greco kick)NE 26–20
[ 5]
[ 6]
Week 2
1
2 3 4 Total
Patriots
0
0 0 7
7
• Bears
7
3 10 0
20
Week 3
1
2 3 4 Total
• Patriots
3
7 7 0
17
Bills
0
7 0 7
14
[ 7]
Week 4
1
2 3 4 Total
• Raiders
14
0 7 14
35
Patriots
10
10 0 0
20
Date: September 29Location: Sullivan StadiumReferee: Gordon McCarter TV announcers (NBC): Marv Albert and Bob Griese
Week 5
1
2 3 4 Total
Patriots
0
13 7 0
20
• Browns
7
7 3 7
24
Week 6
1
2 3 4 Total
Bills
0
3 0 0
3
• Patriots
0
0 7 7
14
[ 8]
Week 7 vs Jets
Week Seven: New York Jets (5–1) at New England Patriots (3–3)
Period
1
2
3 4 Total
Jets
0
3
3 7 13
Patriots
3
3
0 14 20
at Sullivan Stadium , Foxboro, Massachusetts
Date : October 20Game time : 4:00 p.m. ESTGame weather : 54 °F (12 °C)Game attendance : 58,163Referee : Fred Silva TV announcers (NBC) : Marv Albert & Bob GrieseBox Score , Box Score
Game information
First quarter
NE – Tony Franklin 19-yard field goal, 1:56. Patriots 3–0. Drive:
Second quarter
NYJ – Pat Leahy 53-yard field goal, 9:30. Tie 3–3. Drive:
NE – Tony Franklin 44-yard field goal, 2:37. Patriots 6–3. Drive:
Third quarter
NYJ – Pat Leahy 52-yard field goal, 5:48. Tie 6–6. Drive:
Fourth quarter
NE – Irving Fryar 36-yard pass from Steve Grogan (Tony Franklin kick), 10:22. Patriots 13–6. Drive:
NYJ – Tony Paige 2-yard run (Pat Leahy kick), 6:50. Tie 13–13. Drive:
NE – Steve Grogan 3-yard run (Tony Franklin kick), 3:27. Patriots 20–13. Drive:
Top passers
Top rushers
Top receivers
Week 8
1
2 3 4 Total
• Patriots
0
13 3 16
32
Buccaneers
14
0 0 0
14
Week 9
1
2 3 4 Total
Dolphins
7
3 3 0
13
• Patriots
0
3 0 14
17
Date: November 3Location: Sullivan StadiumReferee: Fred Wyant TV announcers (NBC): Jay Randolph and Bob Griese
Week 10
1
2 3 4 Total
Colts
0
6 0 9
15
• Patriots
0
7 17 10
34
Week 11
1
2 3 4 Total
• Patriots
0
7 0 13
20
Seahawks
0
3 10 0
13
Week 12
1
2 3 4 OT Total
Patriots
0
3 0 10 0
13
• Jets
6
0 7 0 3
16
Date: November 24Location: Giants Stadium Referee: Bob FredericTV announcers (NBC): Charlie Jones and Merlin Olsen
Week 13
1
2 3 4 Total
• Patriots
7
17 0 14
38
Colts
7
10 0 14
31
Week 14
1
2 3 4 Total
Lions
3
0 3 0
6
• Patriots
7
10 0 6
23
Date: December 8Location: Sullivan StadiumReferee: Gene Barth TV announcers (CBS): Jim Hill and John Dockery
Week 15
1
2 3 4 Total
Patriots
7
0 3 17
27
• Dolphins
7
10 3 10
30
Week 16
1
2 3 4 Total
Bengals
3
3 7 10
23
• Patriots
10
10 0 14
34
Scoring summary 1 NE Tony Franklin 25 yard field goalPatriots 3–0
1 CIN Jim Breech 42 yard field goalTie 3–3
1 NE Stanley Morgan 50 yard pass from Tony Eason (Tony Franklin kick)Patriots 10–3
2 CIN Jim Breech 22 yard field goal Patriots 10–6
2 NE Tony Collins 9 yard run (Tony Franklin kick)Patriots 17–6
2 NE Tony Franklin 30 yard field goal Patriots 20–6
3 CIN Eddie Brown 33 yard pass from Boomer Esiason (Jim Breech kick)Patriots 20–13
4 CIN Jim Breech 30 yard field goal Patriots 20–16
4 NE Craig James 11 yard run (Tony Franklin kick)Patriots 27–16
4 CIN Cris Collinsworth 8 yard pass from Boomer Esiason (Jim Breech kick)Patriots 27–23
4 NE Robert Weathers 42 yard run (Tony Franklin kick)Patriots 34–23
[ 9]
After winning against the Bengals, fans stormed the field and tore down the goal posts. Fans proceeded to walk down Route 1 with the goalposts, accidentally hitting an overhead wire and nearly electrocuting themselves.[ 10]
Postseason
Wild card
1
2 3 4 Total
• Patriots
3
10 10 3
26
Jets
0
7 7 0
14
This was only the second postseason win in Patriots history, and the first since 1963 .
Divisional
1
2 3 4 Total
• Patriots
7
10 10 0
27
Raiders
3
17 0 0
20
Conference championship
1
2 3 4 Total
• Patriots
3
14 7 7
31
Dolphins
0
7 0 7
14
Date: January 12, 1986Location: Orange Bowl Referee: Gene Barth TV announcers (NBC): Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen
In the 1986 AFC Championship Game, the Patriots ran the ball on 59 out of 71 offensive plays, amassing 255 rushing yards in an upset of the favored Dolphins.[ 11]
Super Bowl
1
2 3 4 Total
• Bears
13
10 21 2
46
Patriots
3
0 0 7
10
Standings
References
^ "1985 NFL Pro Bowlers" . Pro-Football-Reference.com.
^ "1985 NFL All-Pros" . Pro-Football-Reference.com.
^ "Patriots Run Down Dolphins, 31-14 : Miami Can't Overcome Six Turnovers in Losing AFC Title" . Los Angeles Times . January 13, 1986. Retrieved October 9, 2022 .
^ Tales From The Patriots Sideline (Illinois:Sports Publishing LLC, 2006) by Michael Felger, p. 80
^ Pro-Football-Reference.com . Retrieved 2014-Aug-01.
^ Gainesville Sun. 1985 Sept 9. Retrieved 2017-Nov-01.
^ Pro-Football-Reference.com
^ Pro-Football-Reference.com
^ Pro-Football-Reference.com
^ "Foxboro Stadium History - 1985 | New England Patriots" . Archived from the original on December 28, 2017. Retrieved December 27, 2017 .
^ 100 Things Dolphins Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die, Armando Salguero, Triumph Books, Chicago, 2020, ISBN 978-1-62937-722-3, p.147
Franchise Stadiums Culture Lore Rivalries Division championships (22) Conference championships (11) League championships (6) Retired numbers Media Current league affiliations Former league affiliation
Formerly the Boston Patriots (1960–1970)