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 at the Miami Orange Bowl since 1966 .[ a] Dolphins in the game has gone down as one of the greatest upsets in NFL history, as the Dolphins (the only team to defeat the Chicago Bears that year) 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]
1985 New England Patriots staff Front office
Head coaches
Offensive coaches
Defensive coaches Special teams coaches
Strength and conditioning
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 14–3 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.
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]
1 2 3 4 Total Patriots 0 0 0 7 7 • Bears 7 3 10 0 20
1 2 3 4 Total • Patriots 3 7 7 0 17 Bills 0 7 0 7 14
[ 7]
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
1 2 3 4 Total Patriots 0 13 7 0 20 • Browns 7 7 3 7 24
1 2 3 4 Total Bills 0 3 0 0 3 • Patriots 0 0 7 7 14
[ 8]
Week Seven: New York Jets (5–1) at New England Patriots (3–3)
Quarter 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
1 2 3 4 Total • Patriots 0 13 3 16 32 Buccaneers 14 0 0 0 14
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
1 2 3 4 Total Colts 0 6 0 9 15 • Patriots 0 7 17 10 34
1 2 3 4 Total • Patriots 0 7 0 13 20 Seahawks 0 3 10 0 13
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
1 2 3 4 Total • Patriots 7 17 0 14 38 Colts 7 10 0 14 31
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
1 2 3 4 Total Patriots 7 0 3 17 27 • Dolphins 7 10 3 10 30
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]
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 .
1 2 3 4 Total • Patriots 7 10 10 0 27 Raiders 3 17 0 0 20
Conference championship [ edit ] 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 1985 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]
1 2 3 4 Total • Bears 13 10 21 2 46 Patriots 3 0 0 7 10
^ While they did defeat Miami on the road in 1969 , that game was played in Tampa Bay. ^ "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)
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