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.
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:92%; text-align:center;"
! Away team !! Score !! Home team !! Date !! Kickoff<br />(ET / UTC–5) !! TV
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! colspan="6"|Wild card playoffs
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| 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
|-
! colspan="6"|Divisional playoffs
|-
| Cleveland Browns || 21–24 || Miami Dolphins || January 4, 1986 || 12:30 p.m. || NBC
|-
| Dallas Cowboys || 0–20 || Los Angeles Rams || January 4, 1986 || 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 || January 5, 1986 || 4:00 p.m. || NBC
|-
! colspan="6"|Conference Championships
|-
| Los Angeles Rams || 0–24 || Chicago Bears || January 12, 1986 || 12:30 p.m. || CBS
|-
| New England Patriots || 31–14 || Miami Dolphins || January 12, 1986 || 4:00 p.m. || NBC
|-
! colspan="6"|Super Bowl XX<br /><small>Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana</small>
|-
| Chicago Bears || 46–10 || New England Patriots || January 26, 1986 || 5:00 p.m. || NBC
|}
Wild Card playoffs
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.
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.
This was Tom Landry's final postseason game as the Cowboys head coach, and also the final NFL playoff game at Anaheim Stadium. The Rams would not host another NFL postseason game until 1999, the team's fifth season following their 1995 relocation to St. Louis. The Rams would not host another playoff game as the Los Angeles Rams until 2017. It would be their record breaking eighth playoff meeting between the two teams and the last one until the 2018 season. Rams defensive end Gary Jeter finished the game with three sacks, while Gray had a fumble recovery and an interception. The Rams won despite a dismal day for their 34-year old rookie quarterback Dieter Brock, who completed just 6 of 22 passes for 50 yards and was intercepted once.
"It seemed like we just gave up," said Dallas future hall of fame running back Tony Dorsett, who was held to just 58 rushing yards, though he did catch 8 passes for 80. "We should have gone back to Dallas and gave them the ball game at halftime." "As far as playoff games go, I don't think we've ever been dominated like we were today," added White, who was sacked five times and threw three interceptions.
This was the seventh postseason meeting between the Giants and Bears. Chicago won four of the previous six meetings.
The Rams drove to their own 47-yard line on their first drive of the second half, but then linebacker Otis Wilson forced a fumble from Dickerson that was recovered by Mike Richardson on the Bears 48. Faced with fourth down and 6 on the Rams 35-yard line on the ensuing drive, Chicago picked up a first down with McMahon's 13-yard completion to running back Walter Payton. Then they took a 17–0 lead with McMahon's 22-yard touchdown pass to Gault on the next play. LA responded with a drive into Chicago territory, but Leslie Frazier ended it with an interception.
With 2:37 left in the fourth quarter, Dent forced Brock to fumble while sacking him, and linebacker Wilber Marshall picked up the loose ball and returned it 52 yards for a touchdown. It marked the end of a long day for Brock, having been sacked three times and taken numerous additional hits and harassment the entire game by the stifling Bears defense.
This was the second postseason meeting between the Rams and Bears. Los Angeles won the only prior meeting.
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"
|+
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!Los Angeles Rams leads 1–0 in all-time playoff games
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AFC: New England Patriots 31, Miami Dolphins 14
In an upset, the Patriots racked up 255 rushing yards and converted six Dolphins turnovers into 24 points.
On Miami's first offensive play, Steve Nelson stripped the ball from running back Tony Nathan, and Patriots defensive end Garin Veris recovered it to set up Tony Franklin's 23-yard field goal. The Dolphins later scored on an 80-yard drive, with quarterback Dan Marino completing passes to Bruce Hardy for 12 yards and Mark Duper for 18 before finding tight end Dan Johnson in the end zone with an 11-yard touchdown pass. But New England responded on a 66-yard possession, featuring a 45-yard run from Robert Weathers, to score on quarterback Tony Eason's 4-yard touchdown to Tony Collins, giving the Pats a 10–7 lead. On Miami's next drive, Marino fumbled the ball and nose tackle Lester Williams recovered for New England on the Dolphins 36-yard line. Patriots running back Craig James then rushed for 23 yards on three carries and Eason completed a 12-yard pass to Stanley Morgan on the 1-yard line before throwing a 1-yard touchdown toss to tight end Derrick Ramsey, giving the Patriots a 17–7 lead. Just before halftime Miami missed the chance to cut the deficit down to three points when tight end Dan Johnson dropped a pass from Marino in the end zone on a first 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 yard-line, but Fuad Reveiz' kick sailed wide to the right after a badly taken snap.
thumb|right|Craig James rushes the ball past the Dolphins' defense in the AFC Championship game.
Miami's Lorenzo Hampton then lost a fumble on the second half kickoff on a hit from Mosi Tatupu, and Greg Hawthorne recovered for New England on the Dolphins 25. Eason then converted the turnover into points at the end of a 6-play drive with a 2-yard touchdown pass to Weathers, making the score 24–7. The Dolphins had a chance to take the momentum back when safety Bud Brown recovered Fred Marion's fumbled punt return on the Patriots 45-yard line. But after a 19-yard run by Joe Carter and a 16-yard catch by Ron Davenport, Marion made up for his error by intercepting Marino's pass in the end zone to keep Miami from scoring. New England then put together a 13-play drive that took nearly eight minutes off the clock and moved the ball to the Dolphins 24-yard line. But Franklin missed a 41-yard field goal attempt, keeping the Dolphins' slim comeback hopes alive going into the fourth quarter.
Three plays into the final quarter, New England fumbled another punt return, this one lost by Roland James, and Miami took over on the Patriots 10-yard line. This time, they took advantage of their scoring opportunity with Marino's 10-yard touchdown pass to Tony Nathan on the next play, cutting their deficit to 24–14. Things looked even more promising for the Dolphins when they forced a punt and drove to the New England 38-yard line. But then Carter fumbled the ball and defensive end Julius Adams picked it up for the Patriots fourth fumble recovery of the day. New England then put the game away with a 9-play drive, featuring a 14-yard run by Tony Collins and a 13-yard carry by James. Tatupu later finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run, putting the score out of reach at 31–14. With 7:34 left in the game, Miami mounted one last spirited drive, moving the ball to the NE 8-yard line. But two penalties pushed them back to the 28, and then a desperate pass from Marino was picked off by Raymond Clayborn in the end zone.
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. Of note, the Patriots ran the ball on 59 out of 71 offensive plays, amassing 255 rushing yards in an upset of the favored Dolphins. Weathers added 87 yards, while Collins rushed for 61 and caught three passes for 15. Eason threw for just 71 yards, but completed 10 of 12 passes with three touchdowns and no interceptions. The win was the first for the Patriots at the Miami 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, and becoming the first to do so by winning three playoff games on the road.
This was the second postseason meeting between the Patriots and Dolphins. Miami won the only prior meeting.