December 7, 1986

The one loss in the 1985 Bears’ 15-1 rampage through the NFL season happened on a Monday night in the Orange Bowl. There, the greatest defense the league had seen to that point was set on fire and fell rapidly to the Dolphins and their third-year quarterback Dan Marino, the best quarterback the league had seen to that point. Marino led the Dolphins to a 38-24 victory that was not as close as it looked, throwing for three touchdowns and 270 yards, far above the typical day’s output for a Bears opponent. The 38 points were triple the Bears’ season average. It also ended the Bears’ bid for a perfect season, something that Miami still guards jealously to this day. That the Dolphins were upset in the AFC Championship game by the New England Patriots, preventing a high-stakes rematch, is one of many provocations that history has hidden just for me to discover and become upset about.

Marino’s 1985 saw him lead the NFL in touchdowns, completions, and yards for the second straight year despite all of those titles coming down from the year before, when he broke the single-season record for touchdowns in a 16 game season while still in the second quarter of the thirteenth game. Marino’s release was almost too fast for cameras, and the accuracy of his passes to Mark Clayton, Mark Duper, and Nat Moore, were frightening. Marino was such an undeniable weapon that he changed the entire way Don Shula approached the game. Shula won titles in the 1970s behind a fierce running game, but in the 1980s, he abandoned even the pretense of balance with Marino at the helm. There was no longer much reason to keep defenses honest. No one could stop Marino, even when they knew exactly what was coming.

When the Dolphins faded from the top of the AFC in 1986, Marino was not to blame in the slightest. He started the season by becoming both the fastest and youngest quarterback in league history to reach the 100-touchdown plateau in a game the Dolphins lost horribly, 50 to 28 to the San Diego Chargers. It was the first of two times that month the Dolphins defense would give up fifty points in one game, losing 51-45 to the New York Jets two weeks later, wasting a game where Marino threw six touchdowns. The defense also gave up four hundred yards to Bernie Kosar in a loss to the Browns, and while usually losing to the 49ers in the 80s would carry no mark of shame, the two 49ers touchdowns were not thrown by Joe Montana, but by his backup, Jeff Kemp. The defense was a liability that Marino could not always overcome. Though linemen Doug Betters and Bob Baumhauer were once part of a defense fondly nicknamed the Killer B’s, they clearly had no sting left. Nobody on the Dolphins had more than five sacks, or two interceptions. December saw them stagnate at 6-7, needing to win all their remaining games to still have a chance at the playoffs.

This all represented a disappointment to Dolphins fans, but to Saints fans, playing meaningful football in December represented something nearly unprecedented in franchise history. Fans were rabid for their 6-7 Saints, only a game and a half out of the second wild card spot. The Saints had never been in the playoffs before, or been above .500 for a full season, and only once posted a positive point differential. This was a fanbase that started the decade by donning paper bags over their head in an ostentatious demonstration of shame at their team. New coach Jim Mora was doing what big names like Hank Stram and Bum Phillips couldn’t.

Jim Mora was new to the NFL, but not new to professional football. He had spent the previous three years in the USFL, the renegade spring league, and led his charges to the championship game in all three seasons, winning two of them. Though he wasn’t a fanatical true believer in the USFL, actually testifying for the NFL in the anti-trust suit the USFL brought, he did believe in individual players, and in the talent pool of the former USFL as a good source of depth and quick improvement. The Saints led all NFL teams with 10 USFL players on their roster, and they weren’t hanging on the end of the bench, either. They included linebackers Sam Mills and Vaughan Johnson, future all-pros as members of The Dome Patrol. Mora also weeded out players who were complacent with a very intense training camp, one that made Earl Campbell retire on the spot. Taking the diminished Campbell’s spot at halfback was rookie Rueben Mayes, from North Battleford, Saskatchewan. Mayes was also drafted by the CFL by the Saskatchewan Roughriders, but he chose the risk of the bigger pond of the NFL over the hometown hero angle, luckily for Saints fans. His elusive style quickly won him fans and acclaim and he was the clear offensive star for the newly competitive Saints. A sellout crowd was in the Superdome without a paper bag in sight, hoping to see the Saints pick off an anemic member of the league’s aristocracy.

The Dolphins defense was rife to be exploited, and Mayes did exploit them to the tune of 203 yards. Even quarterback Dave Wilson got in the act, posting a season high 274 passing yards and a touchdown, and only being sacked once despite being totally immobile in the pocket. But it was all for naught, as the Dolphins offense carried the day. The Saints strength was in run defense, which was totally nullified by facing a team that almost never ran. Marino threw for 241 yards and three touchdowns and no turnovers. Forced to spread the ball around by an injury to top receiver Mark Clayton, Marino completed passes to seven different receivers. The score was 31-10 at the halftime, but nothing came easy to this Dolphins team. The offense turned conservative, and the defense was unable to stop Mayes, who got his second touchdown in the third quarter. The Saints had a chance to take the lead, getting the ball all the way to the one-yard line with 1:11 left on the clock, but the go-ahead touchdown was nullified by a penalty for illegal motion. This was enough of a reprieve for Miami’s defense to stiffen their back and make the goal line stand, but they can’t take too much pride from that. Dave Wilson’s receiver on fourth and goal was open; the pass just wasn’t accurate.

This was the beginning of a four-year march in the wilderness for Dan Marino’s Dolphins, who were not back in the playoffs the rest of the 1980s, despite Marino continuing to establish an untouchable legacy. The Saints were at a much more exciting beginning, the first period of sustained relevance in the franchise’s history. The Saints felt much better about their 7-9 year than Dolphins fans did about their 8–8 finish. It’s easy to know how feel about the very good and very bad teams in the league, but in the flat plains of seven to nine wins, context is everything. For Dante and Virgil, crawling out of hell covered in filth, Mount Purgatory was a welcome sight, full of comfort and beauty, but it was a place Beatrice never wanted to see again.