1994–95 NFL playoffs
The National Football League playoffs for the 1994 season began on December 31, 1994. The postseason tournament concluded with the San Francisco 49ers defeating the San Diego Chargers in an all-California matchup in Super Bowl XXIX, 49–26, on January 29, 1995, at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami, Florida.
Participants
Bracket
Schedule
Under the new U.S. television broadcast contracts that took effect starting this season, Fox replaced CBS as the broadcaster of most of the NFC playoff games. ABC continued to broadcast the first two Wild Card playoff games. NBC televised the rest of the AFC games. ABC was then the broadcaster for Super Bowl XXIX.Wild Card playoffs
Saturday, December 31, 1994
NFC: Green Bay Packers 16, Detroit Lions 12
The Packers defense held Lions running back Barry Sanders to −1 rushing yards, while holding Detroit to 12 points and a postseason record low of −4 yards on the ground. The previous record was Chicago only giving up seven yards to New England in Super Bowl XX. Sanders lost yardage on six of his 13 carries. After running the ball on the Lions' first three plays, he didn't carry more than twice in any other series. "It's inconceivable to hold him to negative yards," Green Bay defensive end Reggie White said. "He does things that no other back does."Playing without star receiver Sterling Sharpe, who had suffered a career-ending neck injury at the end of the season, Green Bay scored first with a 14-play, 76-yard drive. Packers quarterback Brett Favre completed 7/8 passes for 57 yards, while Dorsey Levens finished it off with a 3-yard touchdown run on fourth and inches. In the second quarter, Packers kicker Chris Jacke missed a 37-yard field goal attempt, but with 2:56 left in the half, he increased the score to 10–0 on a 51-yard field goal at the end of a 37-yard drive jump-started by Favre's 20-yard completion to tight end Mark Chmura. Detroit responded with Dave Krieg's 46-yard completion to Brett Perriman, earning them a first down on the Packers 11-yard line. But after two incompletions and a 1-yard loss by Sanders, Jason Hanson's 30-yard field goal attempt was no good.
On Green Bay's first drive of the second half, they reached the Lions 38-yard line, only to lose the ball when Edgar Bennett was tackled for no gain by Willie Clay on fourth and 1. On the next play, Krieg's 36-yard completion to Herman Moore moved the ball to the Green Bay 25, and Hanson eventually finished the drive by squeezing a 38-yard field goal inside the left upright, cutting Detroit's deficit to 10–3 with 5:58 left in the third quarter. Green Bay struck back with a 28-yard field goal by Jacke, set up by Favre's 26-yard completion to Robert Brooks, regaining a two-score advantage at 13–3. With time running out in the third quarter, Green Bay appeared to be in control of the game, but Detroit finally caught a break as Mel Gray returned the ensuing kickoff a franchise playoff record 68 yards to the Packers 18-yard line. Krieg eventually cashed in the big return with a 3-yard pass to Perriman, cutting the deficit to 13–10 with 13:35 left in the game.
Following a punt from each team, Brooks' 7-yard punt return gave the Packers the ball on their 49-yard line, where they proceeded to drive to a Jacke 28-yard field goal at the 5:35 mark to make it 16–10. Once again the Lions got a big boost from their special teams unit, this time a 27-yard return by Eric Lynch that gave them a first down on the Packers 49. Detroit subsequently drove to the Green Bay 11, including a 3-yard sneak by Krieg on fourth down and 1. But over the next three plays, Sanders gained two yards, Krieg threw an incomplete pass, and then he was sacked by linebacker Bryce Paup for a 6-yard loss. On fourth down and 14 from the 17-yard line, Detroit wide receiver Herman Moore caught Krieg's pass at the back of the end zone, but came down out of bounds past the end line, causing a turnover on downs. Afterwards, Green Bay ran out the rest of the clock, giving up an intentional safety when punter Craig Hentrich ran out of the end zone on the last play of the contest.
Grey returned four kickoffs for 159 yards and a punt for 17. Paup had two sacks. Favre completed 23 of 38 passes for 263 yards, while Krieg finished 17/35 for 199 yards and a touchdown. Both teams committed no turnovers, but Green Bay massively outgained Detroit in total yards, 336 to 171.
This was the second postseason meeting between the Lions and Packers. Green Bay won the only meeting the previous season.
| Green Bay leads 1–0 in all-time playoff games |
AFC: Miami Dolphins 27, Kansas City Chiefs 17
This game marked the second time in December 1994 that the Monday Night Football crew came to Miami to cover a game between these two teams – on December 12, the Dolphins beat the Chiefs 45–28. Both teams produced a lot of yardage in this game, but the Chiefs two turnovers turned out to be a key difference, as Miami never turned the ball over at all.The first half was a turbo charged shootout as both teams scored on all three of their possessions. Kansas City started it off with an 11-play, 80-yard drive in which quarterback Joe Montana, playing in what would be his last NFL game before retirement, completed all six of his passes, the last a 1-yard touchdown toss to tight end Derrick Walker. Miami responded with a 10-play, 72-yard drive including an 18-yard reception by Irving Fryar, who lateraled the ball to James Saxon for an additional 9-yard gain to the Kansas City 1. Bernie Parmalee ran the ball across the goal line from there, tying the game with 2:20 left in the first quarter. However, it took just four plays for Kansas City to retake the lead at 14–7 with Montana's 57-yard touchdown pass to running back Kimble Anders.
Miami scored a 40-yard Pete Stoyanovich field goal on the next series, cutting the score to 14–10 with 12:15 left in the half. Kansas City pushed their lead back up to seven points with a 66-yard drive that ended with a 20-yard field goal by Lin Elliott. With time running out in the second quarter, Miami struck back with a 13-play, 80-yard drive in which quarterback Dan Marino converted two third downs and one fourth down, completing a 17-yard strike to O. J. McDuffie on fourth and 3 from the Chiefs 36. Marino finished the series with a 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end Ronnie Williams, tying the score at 17 going into halftime. In the first half alone, Montana completed 12/15 passes for 178 yards and two touchdowns, while Marino finished it 14/16 for 172 yards and one score.
The Dolphins then took the opening kickoff of the second half and marched 64 yards in six plays to score on Fryar's 7-yard touchdown reception. Stoyanovich then kicked a 40-yard field goal to give Miami a 27–17 lead. Early in the fourth quarter, the Chiefs drove from their own 44 to the Miami 5-yard line. But J. B. Brown intercepted a pass from Montana at the goal line and ran the ball back 24 yards. Then with 7:31 left in the game, Michael Stewart wrestled the ball away from Chiefs running back Marcus Allen at the Miami 34-yard line to stop a second Kansas City scoring threat.
Montana finished his final postseason game with 314 passing yards and two touchdowns, with one interception. His top target was Anders, who caught six passes for 103 yards and a touchdown, while also rushing for 17 yards. Marino completed 22/29 passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns.
This was the third postseason meeting between the Chiefs and Dolphins. Miami won both prior meetings.
| Miami leads 2–0 in all-time playoff games |
Sunday, January 1, 1995
AFC: Cleveland Browns 20, New England Patriots 13
The Browns intercepted three passes from New England quarterback Drew Bledsoe and halted an attempted comeback in the final minutes of the game to clinch the victory.Aided by quarterback Vinny Testaverde's completions to receivers Michael Jackson and Derrick Alexander for gains of 27 and 23 yards, Cleveland moved the ball 74 yards in eight plays on their opening drive and scored on Matt Stover's 30-yard field goal. They got another chance to score when Louis Riddick returned an interception 16 yards to the Patriots 33, but they could only gain one yard on their next three plays and decided to punt.
In the second quarter New England took a 7–3 lead on a 60-yard drive that ended with Bledsoe's 13-yard touchdown pass to running back Leroy Thompson. However, Cleveland tight end Brian Kinchen returned the kickoff 24 yards to the Browns 49-yard line and the team quickly drove 51 yards to retake the lead at 10–7, with Testaverde rushing twice for 14 yards and completing two passes for 29 total yards to Jackson on the way to throwing a 5-yard scoring pass to Mark Carrier. New England responded by driving 71 yards in 17 plays to score on a 23-yard field goal by Matt Bahr, tying the game at 10 going into halftime. The key play of the drive was a fake punt on fourth and 10 on the Browns 43, in which punter Pat O'Neill completed a 21-yard pass to Corwin Brown.
Cleveland started the third quarter with a drive to the Pats 17-yard line, but lost the ball on an Eric Metcalf fumble that was recovered by Patriots defensive end Mike Pitts, the Browns' only turnover of the game. After forcing a punt, Cleveland drove 79 yards in nine plays. Testeverde completed a 25-yard pass to fullback Leroy Hoard and a 14-yarder to Jackson, while Hoard eventually finished the drive with a 10-yard touchdown run to put the Browns back in front at 17–10.
New England had some success moving the ball on their next two drives, but both ended with Bledsoe interceptions. On the second one, Eric Turner picked off a pass from Bledsoe and returned the ball 28 yards to the New England 36 with seven minutes left in the game. From there, Cleveland managed to run the clock down to 3:36 before Stover's 21-yard field goal gave them a two-score lead at 20–10. However, New England put together a 63-yard drive to score on Bahr's 33-yard field goal with 1:33 remaining. New England then recovered the ensuing onside kick, but after gaining a first down, Bledsoe threw four straight incompletions and the ball was turned back to Cleveland on downs.
Testaverde finished the game 20/30 for 268 yards and a touchdown. His top target was Jackson, who caught seven passes for 122 yards. This was the last postseason win for the Cleveland Browns until the 2020 season.
This was the first postseason meeting between the Patriots and Browns.