1985 NFL season


The 1985 NFL season was the 66th regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl XX when the Chicago Bears defeated the New England Patriots 46–10 at the Louisiana Superdome, in New Orleans. The Bears became the second team in NFL history to win 15 games in the regular season and 18 including the playoffs.

Player movement

Transactions

Retirements

The 1985 NFL draft was held from April 30 to May 1, 1985, at New York City's Omni Park Central Hotel. With the first pick, the Buffalo Bills selected defensive end Bruce Smith from Virginia Tech.

Major rule changes

  • Whenever a team time out is called after the two-minute warning of each half or overtime, it should only last a minute instead of 90 seconds.
  • A play is immediately dead anytime the quarterback performs a kneel-down after the two-minute warning of each half, or whenever the player declares himself down by sliding feet first on the ground. The ball is then spotted at the point where the player touches the ground first.
  • Pass interference is not to be called when a pass is clearly uncatchable.
  • Both "Roughing the kicker" and "Running into the kicker" fouls are not to be called if the defensive player was blocked into the kicker.
  • The definition of a valid fair catch signal is clearly defined as one arm that is fully extended above the head and waved from side to side.
  • Goaltending is illegal.
  • The officials' uniform changed slightly. Instead of wearing black stirrups with two white stripes over white sanitary hose, the officials began wearing a one-piece sock similar to those worn by players, black with two white stripes on top and solid white on the bottom. These were first worn the previous season in Super Bowl XIX.
  • Defensive backs were ruled to have an "equal right to the ball", meaning that pass interference would not be called if the defensive player was looking back attempting to intercept the ball, and that any contact with the receiver did not seriously or materially affect the receiver's ability to catch the ball.

    1985 deaths

  • Denver Broncos tight ends coach Fran Polsfoot died on April 5, 1985, after suffering from brain cancer.
  • Green Bay Packers running back Johnny "Blood" McNally, a member of the pro football hall of fame, died at the age of 82 from complications for a stroke.

    Division Races

Regular season

Scheduling formula

Highlights of the 1985 season included:

Tiebreakers

  • Los Angeles Raiders were the first AFC seed ahead of Miami based on better record against common opponents.
  • N.Y. Jets were the first AFC Wild Card based on better conference record than New England and Denver.
  • New England was the second AFC Wild Card ahead of Denver based on better record against common opponents.
  • Cincinnati finished ahead of Pittsburgh in the AFC Central based on head-to-head sweep.
  • Seattle finished ahead of San Diego in the AFC West based on head-to-head sweep.
  • Dallas finished ahead of N.Y. Giants and Washington in the NFC East based on better head-to-head record.
  • N.Y. Giants were the first NFC Wild Card based on better conference record than San Francisco and Washington.
  • San Francisco was the second NFC Wild Card based on head-to-head victory over Washington.
  • Minnesota finished ahead of Detroit in the NFC Central based on better division record.

    Playoffs

Milestones

The following players set all-time records during the season:

Statistical leaders

Team

Individual

Awards

Coaching changes

Offseason

This was the fourth year under the league's five-year broadcast contracts with ABC, CBS, and NBC to televise Monday Night Football, the NFC package, and the AFC package, respectively. Joe Namath replaced Don Meredith in the MNF booth, joining Frank Gifford and O. J. Simpson.