The 1986 Dallas Cowboys marked the beginning of the end of the Tom Landry era. After a strong start, they were a contender for a second straight NFC East title and a Super Bowl. By season’s end they were sub-.500 and would never contend again in the Landry era. GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTSStart reading today. Dallas […]
… no one came close the impact of Lawrence Taylor. “LT”, as the ferocious outside linebacker was casually known, had 20 ½ sacks and won the MVP award, the last defensive player to do so.
The 1986 New England Patriots didn’t make a Super Bowl run like they had in 1985. But in its own way, the ’86 Patriots were just as impressive. While the 1985 AFC Championship had a magical quality to it, with three straight road playoff wins, the 1986 team showed its mettle by winning the franchise’s […]
The 1986 Minnesota Vikings marked a new era in franchise history. The legendary head coach Bud Grant retired for good after 1985. Grant initially retired in 1983, then came back after a disastrous season in 1984. This time around the Vikes did what they should have done the first time and hired Grant’s long-time offensive […]
The talk of a dynasty was freely in the air for the 1986 Chicago Bears as the season began. They were coming off a 1985 season where they simply demolished the NFL and won the Super Bowl. The ’86 Bears were awfully good in their own right, but quarterback instability proved to be their undoing […]
The 1986 Cleveland Browns came closer than any team has in franchise history to reaching the Super Bowl. After a stellar regular season and an epic playoff win, it took the signature moment from one of the NFL’s signature players to deny them at least a chance at the Vince Lombardi Trophy. GREAT 1980s SPORTS […]
The 1986 Cincinnati Bengals didn’t make the playoffs. But they came close for the first time in several years and set the stage for what would ultimately be a Super Bowl team. GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTSStart reading today. Cincinnati had been mired in mediocrity since the playoff years of 1981-82, where they reached the Super Bowl […]
Ken Anderson played for the Cincinnati Bengals from 1971-86 and his omission from the Pro Football Hall of Fame. This is the type of argument that can be attacked from any number of angles, but for the sake of this blog post, I’ll keep it simple—Anderson was a decisively better quarterback than Terry Bradshaw and […]
The 1984 Dallas Cowboys came into the season having made the playoffs each of the previous nine years and 17 of the last 18. That streak came to end when late-season failure against the league’s best ended a year steeped in quarterback controversy. GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTSStart reading today. Danny White had been the Dallas starter […]
It was the second year for the tandem of head coach John Robinson and running back Eric Dickerson, as they brought power football to Hollywood. And the 1984 Los Angeles Rams continued the success, making the playoffs for a second straight year. GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTSStart reading today. Dickerson, a future Hall of Famer, won his […]
The 1983 Denver Broncos ushered in the greatest era in the history of the franchise—the John Elway era. It had a lot of rocky moments, especially at the beginning. But by the end, they had made the playoffs and Elway was starting to flash the potential that would eventually take him to the Hall of […]
After three straight NFC Championship Game losses, the 1983 Dallas Cowboys spent much of the season looking they were going on a redemptive Super Bowl run. They ended on a dour note that foreshadowed the end of the Tom Landry era. GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTSStart reading today. An explosive offense keyed Dallas’ success for much of […]