Believe it or not, the Patriots existed well before Tom Brady and Bill Belichick helped redefine expectations for New England during the early 2000s.
It wasn’t necessarily the most glamorous existence, as the Pats long were synonymous with playoff futility. But there was a brief glimmer of hope in the mid-1980s that should not be forgotten as the years pass and we contextualize the franchise’s long, fascinating history.
The Patriots started off 2-3 during the 1985 season, their 16th in the NFL after a 10-year run in the AFL before the merger. It was hard to fathom at that point, especially with the Patriots having never won an NFL playoff game, that New England would make noise and captivate a region. Yet, that’s nevertheless what unfolded in the ensuing months, with the Patriots’ “squish the fish” AFC Championship Game win over the Miami Dolphins perfectly symbolizing their underdog story.
The Patriots won nine of their final 11 regular-season games, despite aging quarterback Steve Grogan being thrust into action when third-year upstart Tony Eason went down with an injury, and rode a stout defense into the postseason. The deck was stacked against New England, even when Eason returned, but the Patriots became the first team in NFL history to advance to the Super Bowl by winning three road playoff games.
First, the Patriots downed the New York Jets in the Meadowlands 26-14. Then, New England upset the Los Angeles Raiders at the Coliseum 27-20. The craziest win of all, however, was a 31-14 upset victory over Dan Marino, Don Shula and the Dolphins at the Orange Bowl to secure the conference crown. The ‘Fins had lost to the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl the year prior and looked primed to return to the big stage after going 12-4 in the 1985 regular season.
“As I recall, we went down there for three or four days to get acclimated,” former New England linebacker Andre Tippett recalled in a 2005 article on Patriots.com. “We ran into some of the Dolphins when we were out and on game day you could see the same thing. You could see it in their eyes. They weren’t ready and they didn’t want to play the Patriots. We were like a dog sensing fear in the mailman.”
The Patriots had lost 18 consecutive games at the Orange Bowl before that improbable win over the Dolphins. Marino had won the NFL MVP Award in 1984, throwing for 5,084 yards with 48 touchdown passes (both single-season records at the time), and a date with the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XX seemed like a foregone conclusion for Miami.
