Miami V. Chicago, 1985. Was it REALLY an upset win?

[simeon]

Yes on more then one ocassion I heard a talking head pick Miami, I think one of them was Deon Sanders.

[Sunstroke]

Really?  I didn't see one.  Were they picking Miami straight up or against the spread? 

I was panning through the pregame shows and didn't see anyone taking Miami... From what I saw, it was clean sweeps for the Patsies across the board.

[NADS]

An upset?  Technically speaking yes, because the Bears were the favorites.  A stunning upset?  Absolutely not.  This past Sunday's shellacking of the Patriots was a stunning upset. 

Agreed.  The Bears had 6 or 7 blowouts in their first 12 games, including winning the previous 3 games by a combined score of 104-3.

Buccaneers 38-28
Patriots 20–7
@ Vikings 33-24 
Redskins 45-10
@ Buccaneers 27-19
@ 49ers 26-10
Packers 23-7
Vikings 27-9
@ Packers 16-10
Lions 24-3
@ Cowboys 44-0
Falcons 36-0

Miami was 9-4 when they played Chicago who was 13-0 at the time.
It was considered an upset because Chicago was so dominate that year.

I remember that game,and any time you bounce a pass off a guy's helmet and it goes for a touchdown......well,you pretty much know it's gonna be your night.  Was it an upset?Ya,I gotta say it was,Miami was a decent team that year,but the juggernaut that was the '85 Bears was picking up steam and blowing teams out.

I was in grade school then and remember being ecstatic when the Fins won this one...it really solidified by obsession with the franchise.  Some of this stuff I remember because it was magic and some comes from being an NFL buff but...

Fuck technicalities.  The Bears came rolling into Miami 13-0 with the best defense of all time and they were nasty; destroying entire teams of QBs with arguably the best LB combo of all time including HOF Mike Singletary.  I think NFL Network ranked the LB core #2 all-time only because the Saints LBs of the nineties had such a horrible offense.  Da' Bears also had HOF DT Dan Hampton and William "The Fridge" Perry stuffing the interior line with Tecmo Bowl stud Richard Dent at DE.  Remember that Walter Payton guy? He was pretty good.  Jim McMahon didn't play but "Taco Bell" as we called him was lacking stats-wise that year.  My thoughts are Miami was considered a finesse team with a young, though record-breaking, QB and kick-ass receivers.  This game was about stopping Marino for the Bears and Payton for the Dolphins.  Marino shredded Buddy Ryan's 46 defense.  1985 (I think) was also the first year a different receiver could make a catch off of his teammates tipped attempt.  Regardless, gentleman, this was a stunning upset in every since of the word.

[sciotto]

   The win over the Bears was in '85, not '84. Miami was 14-2 in '84 and in the Super Bowl. The Dolphins finished '85 12-4.

   What people forget, and I agree with your point of view, is Miami needed that win to stay in a three-way tie for first with New England and the Jets, setting up a Jet loss to Chicago two weeks later, and a Miami win over NE to give Miami the division.

   By the way, the score was 38-24. I can tell you the score of every Miami game, regular season and playoffs from the '73 AFC Divisional playoff win over Cincy through yesterday's 25-16 win over Buffalo.

   One more point, in '84 Miami was the last undefeated team and were bumped off by the San Diego Chargers 34-28 in OT, proving the old "On any given Sunday" statement.