The National Football League playoffs for the 1985 season began on December 28, 1985. The postseason tournament concluded with the Chicago Bears defeating the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX, 46–10, on January 26, 1986, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Participants
Bracket
Schedule Because the Jets and Giants both used Giants Stadium as their home field, the two wild card playoff games were held on different days.
In the United States, CBS televised the NFC playoff games, while NBC broadcast the AFC games and Super Bowl XX.
Round Away team Score Home team Date Kickoff(ET / UTC−5) TV Wild-card round New England Patriots 26–14 New York Jets December 28, 1985 4:00 p.m. NBC San Francisco 49ers 3–17 New York Giants December 29, 1985 1:00 p.m. CBS Divisional round Cleveland Browns 21–24 Miami Dolphins January 4, 1986 12:30 p.m. NBC Dallas Cowboys 0–20 Los Angeles Rams 4:00 p.m. CBS New York Giants 0–21 Chicago Bears January 5, 1986 12:30 p.m. CBS New England Patriots 27–20 Los Angeles Raiders 4:00 p.m. NBC Conference championships Los Angeles Rams 0–24 Chicago Bears January 12, 1986 12:30 p.m. CBS New England Patriots 31–14 Miami Dolphins 4:00 p.m. NBC Super Bowl XX Chicago Bears 46–10 New England Patriots January 26, 1986 5:20 p.m. NBC
Wild-card round
Saturday, December 28, 1985
AFC: New England Patriots 26, New York Jets 14
This was the first postseason meeting between the Patriots and Jets. In the NFL's first playoff game at Giants Stadium, the Patriots dominated the game by forcing five sacks and four turnovers from a Jets offense that had ranked #1 during the season for fewest turnovers lost (29). This was New England's first playoff win since 1963.
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 from 41 yards. Late in the second quarter, safety Fred Marion intercepted a pass from O'Brien and returned it 26 yards to the Jets 33-yard line. A few plays later, Jets defensive back Russell Carter failed to make contact with receiver Stanley Morgan while trying to jam him at the line of scrimmage, enabling Morgan to take off past Carter and haul in a 36-yard touchdown completion from Tony Eason, giving New England a 13–7 halftime lead.
In the third quarter, 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 linebacker 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. However, Hector returned the next kickoff 33 yards to the Pats 43-yard line. From there, Pat Ryan replaced O'Brien, who had been suffering from a concussion since the first half, and completed 5/7 passes on a 57-yard scoring drive, the last a 12-yard touchdown throw to tight end Mickey Shuler, making the score 23–14. But in the fourth quarter, Patriots linebacker Andre Tippett deflected a Ryan pass into the arms of defensive end Garin Veris, who returned the interception 18 yards to set up Franklin's fourth field goal and finish off the scoring.
Veris finished the game with three sacks and an interception. Eason completed 12 of 17 passes for 179 yards and a touchdown. Hector returned six kickoffs for 115 yards and added 24 more yards rushing and receiving. Jets receiver Al Toon set a franchise playoff record for receptions (9), good for 93 yards.
Sunday, December 29, 1985
NFC: New York Giants 17, San Francisco 49ers 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 eight passes for 120 yards, the Giants defense limited San Francisco to only one field goal the entire game. It was a very satisfying win for New York, who had lost their last five games played against the 49ers, including playoff losses in 1981 and 1984. Meanwhile, the 49ers dropped nine passes and finished without a touchdown for the first time in their last 40 games.
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 safety Terry Kinard intercepted a pass from 49ers quarterback Joe Montana and returned it 15 yards to set up Phil Simms' 18-yard touchdown pass to tight end Mark Bavaro. San Francisco managed to drive inside the Giants 10-yard line with a 15-play drive that included two personal fouls and a holding call against New York's defense. However, they could not get into the end zone and had to settle for Ray Wersching's 21-yard field goal, cutting the score to 10-3 going into halftime.
A 77-yard drive in the third quarter was capped by Simms' 3-yard touchdown pass to tight end Don Hasselbeck, increasing New York's lead to 17–3. In the fourth quarter, the Giants made two key defensive stands to keep the game out of range. First, they forced San Francisco to turn the ball over on downs at the New York 26 with 4:46 left. Following a New York punt, the 49ers drove into the Giants red zone. With 2:16 left in the game, Montana threw a touchdown pass to tight end John Frank, but it was eliminated by a holding penalty against guard John Ayers. On the next play, he threw a pass to running back Carl Monroe, only to have him drop it in the end zone. Then on fourth and 15, Montana's final pass was incomplete and New York ran out the rest of the clock.
New York running back Joe Morris finished the game with 141 rushing yards. Defensive lineman Jim Burt had two of New York's four sacks. 49ers running back Roger Craig, who became the first player in NFL history to gain over 1,000 rushing and receiving yards during the regular season, was held to just 24 rushing yards and 18 receiving yards.
This was the third postseason meeting between the 49ers and Giants. San Francisco won both previous meetings.
+San Francisco leads 2–0 in all-time playoff games
Divisional round
Saturday, January 4, 1986
AFC: Miami Dolphins 24, Cleveland Browns 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 quarter, 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 Earnest 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 than risk another long field goal. On the Browns next drive, 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 ran for a 66-yard touchdown with 11:03 left in the third quarter, the longest play in Cleveland's postseason history, to give Cleveland a 21–3 lead. However, Miami then controlled the rest of the game. A 13-play 74-yard drive, aided by a 15-yard late hit penalty against Cleveland and a 15-yard reception by Mark Clayton, was capped by Marino's 6-yard touchdown pass to Nat Moore. Miami's defense quickly forced a punt, and Jeff Gossett's kick went just 26 yards to the Browns 49-yard line. From there it took just five plays to score on a 31-yard burst by Ron Davenport, who trucked right through Rogers and linebacker Clarence Weathers on the way to the end zone. Browns receiver Glen Young gave his team a chance to get their momentum back with a 35-yard kickoff return to the 42-yard line. But after a holding penalty wiped out a first down run, Cleveland could not recover and had to punt.
In the fourth quarter, Marino got the team rolling on a 74-yard, 10-play drive for the game winning score, connecting with halfback Tony Nathan for a 39-yard gain (the longest reception of the day from either team) to the Browns 35-yard line, and later finding tight end Bruce Hardy for 18 yards inside the Cleveland red zone. On the first play after the two-minute warning, Davenport went into the end zone on a 1-yard score with 1:57 left to give the Dolphins the lead, 24–21. Cleveland then took the ball and tried to drive for the tying field goal, but on the game's last play, Byner was tackled on the Miami 45-yard line as time expired.
Byner finished the game with 161 rushing yards and two touchdowns on just 16 carries, while also catching four passes for 25 yards. Nathan rushed for 21 yards and caught 10 passes for 101 yards. Marino was 25/45 for 238 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Cleveland racked up a whopping 251 rushing yards against the Dolphins defense, which turned out to be an omen of what lay in store for them in the AFC Championship Game.
This was the second postseason meeting between the Browns and Dolphins. Miami won the only previous meeting.
+Miami leads 1–0 in all-time playoff games
NFC: Los Angeles Rams 20, Dallas Cowboys 0
Running back Eric Dickerson led the Rams to a victory by scoring two touchdowns and recording a playoff record 248 rushing yards, while LA's defense held the Cowboys to 243 yards and forced six turnovers.
Rams receiver Henry Ellard's 23-yard punt return to the Dallas 38-yard line and 21-yard reception on the next play set up the first score of the game, a 33-yard field goal by Mike Lansford 5:19 into the first quarter. This ended up being the only score of the first half, while Ellard's 21-yard catch ended up being nearly half of the Rams total passing yards (47) for the entire game.
LA running back Charles White returned the second half kickoff (a squib kick by punter Mike Saxon, who had replaced injured kicker Rafael Septién) 14 yards to the Rams 45-yard line. Dickerson scored on a 55-yard touchdown run on the next play, giving the Rams a 10–0 lead. On the ensuing kickoff, Kenny Duckett fumbled, and the ball was recovered by Vince Newsome on the Dallas 18 to set up Lansford's second field goal. In the fourth quarter, Dallas managed to reach the Rams 20-yard line, but Kevin Greene sacked Cowboys quarterback Danny White on third down. Now on 4th and 14 from the Rams 24 and without their injured kicker, the Cowboys seemed unsure of what to do. First they sent their field goal unit in, with linebacker Brian Salonen, who played kicker in college, lined up to make the kick. This caused the Rams to sense a potential fake try, so they kept their regular defense on the field. Then Dallas called a timeout and sent their regular offense back to try and convert the fourth down, which failed as White's pass was batted away. The Cowboys defense subsequently forced a punt, but Gordon Banks muffed the kick and Rams cornerback Jerry Gray recovered the ball to set up Dickerson's 40-yard rushing touchdown.