1986 NFL season

1986 National Football League season

Regular season
Duration	September 7 – December 22, 1986
Playoffs
Start date	December 28, 1986
AFC Champions	Denver Broncos
NFC Champions	New York Giants
Super Bowl XXI
Date	January 25, 1987
Site	Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California
Champions	New York Giants
Pro Bowl
Date	February 1, 1987
Site	Aloha Stadium

The 1986 NFL season was the 67th regular season of the National Football League. The defending Super Bowl Champion Chicago Bears shared the league's best record with the Giants at 14-2, with the Giants claiming the spot in the NFC by tiebreakers. In the AFC, the Cleveland Browns earned home-field advantage with a record of 12-4, and they hosted the New York Jets in round one of the AFC playoffs. The Jets had started the season at 10-1 before losing their final five contests. The game went to double OT, with the Browns finally prevailing 23-20. The following Sunday, John Elway and the Denver Broncos defeated the Browns by an identical score in the game known as The Drive, where Elway drove his team 98 yards to send the game to overtime. The Giants would defeat their rival Washington Redskins in the NFC title game, blanking them 17-0 to advance to their first Super Bowl. The season ended with Super Bowl XXI when the New York Giants defeated the Denver Broncos 39-20 at the Rose Bowl to win their first league title in 30 years.

Major rule changes

• Players are prohibited from wearing apparel, equipment, or other items that carry commercial names, names of organizations, or any type of personal message unless they get specific permission from the league.
• If the offensive team commits a dead ball foul during the last two minutes of a half, the clock will start at the snap.
• If an offensive player fumbles the ball and it goes forward and out of bounds, the ball is returned to that team at the spot of the fumble.
• If an offensive player fumbles the ball in the field of play and it goes out of bounds in the opponent's end zone, the ball is given to the defensive team at the spot of the fumble (this rule would be changed in 1991 to result in a touchback).
• A limited system of instant replay was adopted to aid officiating. A replay official in a booth would decide what plays to review and make the final ruling, regardless of the current score or the amount of time left in the game. The replay official communicated with the game officials via radio transmitters. However, there was no time limit on how long the replay official could review a play and this led to long game delays (this was a major reason why the system was eventually repealed in 1992 and not brought back until time limits for replays were established in 1999).

Final standings

W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT = Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against

AFC East
Team	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA
(3) New England Patriots	11	5	0	.688	412	307
(4) New York Jets	10	6	0	.625	364	386
Miami Dolphins	8	8	0	.500	430	405
Buffalo Bills	4	12	0	.250	287	348
Indianapolis Colts	3	13	0	.188	229	400
AFC Central
Team	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA
(1) Cleveland Browns	12	4	0	.750	391	310
Cincinnati Bengals	10	6	0	.625	409	394
Pittsburgh Steelers	6	10	0	.375	307	336
Houston Oilers	5	11	0	.313	274	329
AFC West
Team	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA
(2) Denver Broncos	11	5	0	.688	378	327
(5) Kansas City Chiefs	10	6	0	.625	358	326
Seattle Seahawks	10	6	0	.625	366	293
Los Angeles Raiders	8	8	0	.500	323	346
San Diego Chargers	4	12	0	.250	335	396

NFC East
Team	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA
(1) New York Giants	14	2	0	.875	371	236
(4) Washington Redskins	12	4	0	.750	368	296
Dallas Cowboys	7	9	0	.438	346	337
Philadelphia Eagles	5	10	1	.344	256	312
St. Louis Cardinals	4	11	1	.281	218	351
NFC Central
Team	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA
(2) Chicago Bears	14	2	0	.875	352	187
Minnesota Vikings	9	7	0	.563	398	273
Detroit Lions	5	11	0	.313	277	326
Green Bay Packers	4	12	0	.250	254	418
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	2	14	0	.125	239	473
NFC West
Team	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA
(3) San Francisco 49ers	10	5	1	.656	374	247
(5) Los Angeles Rams	10	6	0	.625	309	267
Atlanta Falcons	7	8	1	.469	280	280
New Orleans Saints	7	9	0	.438	288	287

Tiebreakers

• Denver was second AFC playoff seed ahead of New England based on head-to-head victory (1–0).
• N.Y. Jets was the first AFC Wild Card based on better conference record (8–4) than Kansas City (9–5), Seattle (7–5), and Cincinnati (7–5).
• Kansas City was the second AFC Wild Card based on better conference record (9–5) than Seattle (7–5) and Cincinnati (7–5).
• N.Y. Giants was the top NFC playoff seed based on better conference record than Chicago (11–1 to Bears' 10–2).

Playoffs

Main article: 1986–87 NFL playoffs

NOTE: The New York Giants (the NFC one seed) did not play the Washington Redskins (the four seed) in the Divisional playoff round because both teams were in the same division.

						Divisional Playoffs
						Jan. 4 – Mile High Stadium
	AFC Wild Card Game										AFC Championship
						3	New England	17
	Dec. 28 – Giants Stadium										Jan. 11 – Cleveland Stadium
						2	Denver	22
	5	Kansas City	15								2	Denver	23*
						Jan. 3 – Cleveland Stadium
	4	N.Y. Jets	35								1	Cleveland	20			Super Bowl XXI
						4	N.Y. Jets	20
																Jan. 25 – Rose Bowl
						1	Cleveland	23**
																A2	Denver	20
						Jan. 3 – Soldier Field
	NFC Wild Card Game										NFC Championship					N1	N.Y. Giants	39
						4	Washington	27
	Dec. 28 – RFK Stadium										Jan. 11 – Giants Stadium
						2*	Chicago	13
	5	L.A. Rams	7								4	Washington	0
						Jan. 4 – Giants Stadium
	4	Washington	19								1	N.Y. Giants	17
						3	San Francisco	3
						1*	N.Y. Giants	49

* Indicates overtime victory

** Indicates double-overtime victory

Statistical leaders

Team

Points scored	Miami Dolphins (430)
Total yards gained	Cincinnati Bengals (6,490)
Yards rushing	Chicago Bears (2,700)
Yards passing	Miami Dolphins (4,779)
Fewest points allowed	Chicago Bears (187)
Fewest total yards allowed	Chicago Bears (4,130)
Fewest rushing yards allowed	New York Giants (1,284)
Fewest passing yards allowed	St. Louis Cardinals (2,637)

Milestones

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

Most Passes Completed, Season	Dan Marino, Miami (378)
Most Pass Attempts, Season	Dan Marino, Miami (623)

Awards

Most Valuable Player	Lawrence Taylor, Linebacker, New York Giants
Coach of the Year	Bill Parcells, New York Giants
Offensive Player of the Year	Eric Dickerson, Running back, Los Angeles Rams
Defensive Player of the Year	Lawrence Taylor, Linebacker, New York Giants
Offensive Rookie of the Year	Rueben Mayes, Running back, New Orleans Saints
Defensive Rookie of the Year	Leslie O'Neal, Defensive end, San Diego Chargers
NFL Comeback Player of the Year	Joe Montana, Quarterback, San Francisco 49ers, Tommy Kramer, Quarterback, Minnesota Vikings (co-winners)

References

• NFL Record and Fact Book (ISBN 1-932994-36-X)
• NFL History 1981–1990 (Last accessed December 4, 2005)
• Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (ISBN 0-06-270174-6)