After a 5-4 start, the Miami Dolphins had won six straight games as they remained home to close the 1985 regular season. Coming off a huge Monday Night Football victory over the New England Patriots, the Buffalo Bills were all that stood between Miami and a fifth straight AFC East title.
The Bills were just 2-13 as they arrived at the Orange Bowl on Dec. 22, 1985. When all was said and done, the Dolphins wore the AFC East crown yet again, thanks to a 28-0 victory.
Miami finished with just nine more total yards than the Bills, but six Buffalo turnovers led to 14 points for the Dolphins. Via a pair of touchdown passes from Dan Marino to Bruce Hardy, the Dolphins led 14-0 at halftime. The second of those scores resulted from a Jackie Shipp interception of Buffalo quarterback Bruce Mathison.
After a scoreless third, the Dolphins put the contest away with touchdown runs from Tony Nathan and Ron Davenport in the fourth quarter. Davenport’s score followed a Bills fumble.
In addition to Shipp, Paul Lankford and Will Judson also had interceptions of Mathison. Nathan finished with 99 yards from scrimmage for the Miami offense. Greg Bell led the Bills with 50 yards rushing and 64 yards receiving.
With the victory, the Dolphins claimed AFC East supremacy. The win helped give Miami home field in the AFC, but it would lose at home to the division rival New England Patriots in the AFC Championship.
The five division titles from 1981 to 1985 is the longest streak of AFC East crowns in Dolphins history. That last of those was clinched on this day four decades ago.
