1985 New England Patriots season

1985 New England Patriots season
OwnerBilly Sullivan
General managerPatrick Sullivan
Head coachRaymond Berry
Home fieldSullivan Stadium
Results
Record11–5
Division place3rd AFC East
Playoff finishWon Wild Card Playoffs (at Jets) 26–14
Won Divisional Playoffs (at Raiders) 27–20
Won AFC Championship (at Dolphins) 31–14
Lost Super Bowl XX (vs. Bears) 10–46
Pro Bowlers
AP All-Pros
4
Uniform
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 and 26th overall. The Patriots had a record of eleven wins and five losses and finished tied for second 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.

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.

Personnel

Staff

1985 New England Patriots staff
Front office

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches

Strength and conditioning

  • Strength and conditioning – Dean Brittenham

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


Practice squad



Rookies in italics

Schedule

Regular season

Week Date Opponent Result Game site Record Attendance
1 September 8, 1985 Green Bay Packers W 26–20 Sullivan Stadium 1–0 49,488
2 September 15, 1985 at Chicago Bears L 20–7 Soldier Field 1–1 60,533
3 September 22, 1985 at Buffalo Bills W 17–14 Rich Stadium 2–1 40,334
4 September 29, 1985 Los Angeles Raiders L 35–20 Sullivan Stadium 2–2 60,686
5 October 6, 1985 at Cleveland Browns L 24–20 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 2–3 62,139
6 October 13, 1985 Buffalo Bills W 28–6 Sullivan Stadium 3–3 40,462
7 October 20, 1985 New York Jets W 20–13 Sullivan Stadium 4–3 58,163
8 October 27, 1985 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 32–14 Tampa Stadium 5–3 34,661
9 November 3, 1985 Miami Dolphins W 17–13 Sullivan Stadium 6–3 58,811
10 November 10, 1985 Indianapolis Colts W 34–15 Sullivan Stadium 7–3 54,176
11 November 17, 1985 at Seattle Seahawks W 20–13 The Kingdome 8–3 60,345
12 November 24, 1985 at New York Jets L 16–13 (OT) The Meadowlands 8–4 74,100
13 December 1, 1985 at Indianapolis Colts W 38–31 Hoosier Dome 9–4 56,740
14 December 8, 1985 Detroit Lions W 23–6 Sullivan Stadium 10–4 59,078
15 December 16, 1985 at Miami Dolphins L 30–27 Miami Orange Bowl 10–5 69,489
16 December 22, 1985 Cincinnati Bengals W 34–23 Sullivan Stadium 11–5 57,953

Game summaries

Week 1

1 234Total
Packers 0 6014 20
• Patriots 7 1207 26
  • Date: September 8
  • Location: Sullivan Stadium
  • Game start: 1:00 p.m.
  • Game attendance: 49,488
  • Game weather: 74°F; wind 10
  • Referee: Bob McElwee
  • TV announcers (CBS): Jim Hill and John Dockery

Week 2

1 234Total
Patriots 0 007 7
• Bears 7 3100 20

Week 3

1 234Total
Patriots 3 770 17
Bills 0 707 14

Week 4

1 234Total
• Raiders 14 0714 35
Patriots 10 1000 20
  • Date: September 29
  • Location: Sullivan Stadium
  • Referee: Gordon McCarter
  • TV announcers (NBC): Marv Albert and Bob Griese

Week 5

1 234Total
Patriots 0 1370 20
• Browns 7 737 24

Week 6

1 234Total
Bills 0 300 3
Patriots 0 077 14

Week 7 vs Jets

Week Seven: New York Jets (5–1) at New England Patriots (3–3)
1 2 34Total
Jets 0 3 3713
Patriots 3 3 01420

at Sullivan Stadium, Foxboro, Massachusetts

  • Date: October 20
  • Game time: 4:00 p.m. EST
  • Game weather: 54 °F (12 °C)
  • Game attendance: 58,163
  • Referee: Fred Silva
  • TV announcers (NBC): Marv Albert & Bob Griese
  • Box Score, Box Score
Game information

Week 8

1 234Total
• Patriots 0 13316 32
Buccaneers 14 000 14

Week 9

1 234Total
Dolphins 7 330 13
• Patriots 0 3014 17
  • Date: November 3
  • Location: Sullivan Stadium
  • Referee: Fred Wyant
  • TV announcers (NBC): Jay Randolph and Bob Griese

Week 10

1 234Total
Colts 0 609 15
• Patriots 0 71710 34

Week 11

1 234Total
• Patriots 0 7013 20
Seahawks 0 3100 13

Week 12

1 234OTTotal
Patriots 0 30100 13
• Jets 6 0703 16
  • Date: November 24
  • Location: Giants Stadium
  • Referee: Bob Frederic
  • TV announcers (NBC): Charlie Jones and Merlin Olsen

Week 13

1 234Total
• Patriots 7 17014 38
Colts 7 10014 31

Week 14

1 234Total
Lions 3 030 6
• Patriots 7 1006 23
  • Date: December 8
  • Location: Sullivan Stadium
  • Referee: Gene Barth
  • TV announcers (CBS): Jim Hill and John Dockery

Week 15

1 234Total
Patriots 7 0317 27
• Dolphins 7 10310 30
  • Date: December 16
  • Location: Orange Bowl
  • Game start: 9:00 EST
  • Referee: Dick Jorgensen
  • TV announcers (ABC): Frank Gifford, Joe Namath, OJ Simpson

Week 16

1 234Total
Bengals 3 3710 23
• Patriots 10 10014 34

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.

Postseason

Playoff Round Date Opponent Result Game site Record Attendance
Wild Card Playoff December 28, 1985 at New York Jets W 26–14 Meadowlands Stadium 12–5 70,958
Divisional Playoff January 5, 1986 at Los Angeles Raiders W 27–20 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 13–5 88,936
AFC Championship January 12, 1986 at Miami Dolphins W 31–14 Orange Bowl 14–5 74,978
Super Bowl XX January 26, 1986 N Chicago Bears L 46–10 Louisiana Superdome 14–6 73,818

Wild Card

1 234Total
• Patriots 3 10103 26
Jets 0 770 14

This was only the second postseason win in Patriots history, and the first since 1963.

Divisional

1 234Total
• Patriots 7 10100 27
Raiders 3 1700 20

Conference Championship

1 234Total
• Patriots 3 1477 31
Dolphins 0 707 14
  • Date: January 12, 1986
  • Location: 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.

Super Bowl

1 234Total
• Bears 13 10212 46
Patriots 3 007 10

Standings

AFC East
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Miami Dolphins(2) 12 4 0 .750 6–2 9–3 428 320 W7
New York Jets(4) 11 5 0 .688 6–2 9–3 393 264 W1
New England Patriots(5) 11 5 0 .688 6–2 8–4 362 290 W1
Indianapolis Colts 5 11 0 .313 1–7 2–10 320 386 W2
Buffalo Bills 2 14 0 .125 1–7 2–12 200 381 L6

This page was last updated at 2022-09-26 11:45 UTC. Update now. View original page.

All our content comes from Wikipedia and under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.


Top

If mathematical, chemical, physical and other formulas are not displayed correctly on this page, please useFirefox or Safari