As we travel down memory lane, here's a countdown of the 10 most memorable Dolphins victory in Monday night home games from this vantage point. 10 — Dec. 8, 1980, Dolphins 16, Patriots 13 (OT): Friday marks the 43rd anniversary of this Monday night matchup that the Dolphins pulled out thanks to Uwe von Schamann's short field goal after David Woodley completed a 54-yard pass to Duriel Harris. The game got to overtime because Dolphins nose tackle Bob Baumhower blocked a last-second field goal, which came after ABC commentator Howard Cosell announced during the telecast that legendary singer/songwriter John Lennon had bee murdered in New York City. 9 — Nov. 26, 2017, Dolphins 27, Patriots 20: This was the last Monday night game in Miami and this might have been Xavien Howard's coming-out party as he picked off Tom Brady twice, including once on a bomb intended for Brandin Cooks. Jakeem Grant also had a nifty touchdown catch in the end zone. 8 — Dec. 12, 1988, Dolphins 38, Browns 31: The Dolphins' 1988 season was one to forget and the playoffs were out of the equation by this point, but it still was cool to watch Marino outduel future teammate Bernie Kosar and former teammate Don Strock in this shootout. 7 — Dec. 17, 1984, Dolphins 28, Cowboys 21: The Dolphins closed out their memorable 1984 season with a thrilling Monday night victory that saw Mark Clayton set the single-season receiving TD record with his late game-winning touchdown and Dan Marino putting the finishing touches on his 48-touchdown, 5,084-yard season. 6 — Dec. 21, 1998, Dolphins 31, Broncos 21: Dan Marino outdueled John Elway with a big assist from WR Lamar Thomas, who scored three touchdowns. This would be higher on this list had the Broncos' quest for an undefeated season not ended the week before with an upset loss against the New York Giants. 5 — Oct. 12, 2009, Dolphins 31, Jets 27: There was nothing special in this game through three quarters other than the Dolphins wearing their orange jerseys. But the fourth quarter was spectacular. It featured five lead changes, the last coming when Ronnie Brown took a snap in the Wildcat formation and scored on a run on third-and-goal from the 2-yard line with 6 seconds left. 4 — Nov. 30, 1981, Dolphins 13, Eagles 10: What made this Monday night game special was the incredibly loud crowd at the Orange Bowl, with the noise getting so bad at one point in the fourth quarter that Eagles QB Ron Jaworski backed away from the huddle a few times before throwing an interception. 3 — Dec. 3, 1973, Dolphins 30, Steelers 26: Long before the “Monday Night Miracle,” the Dolphins had a close call in another Monday night game. In this one, the Dolphins led 30-3 heading into the fourth quarter before the Steelers scored three touchdowns behind quarterback Terry Bradshaw, who had come off the bench to replace Joe Gilliam. Leading 30-24, the Dolphins took their famous intentional safety, which had Howard Cosell losing his mind on the ABC broadcast. 2 — Dec. 20, 2004, Dolphins 29, Patriots 28: The 2004 season was one to forget for the Dolphins, but this Monday night thriller was one to remember. A.J. Feeley gave the 2-11 Dolphins a huge upset against the 11-2 Patriots with a fourth-down game-winning TD pass to Derrius Thompson and the defense picked off Tom Brady twice in the late stages. 1 — Dec. 2, 1985, Dolphins 38, Bears 24: This just might be the most impressive victory in Dolphins history given the way they handled the Bears in handing them their only loss of the 1985 season. The atmosphere at the Orange Bowl on this Monday night also was unparalleled and the Dolphins countered the Bears' vaunted "46" defense by using three wide receivers, with Nat Moore joining Mark Duper and Mark Clayton in the lineup. The Dolphins led 31-10 at halftime before Chicago made the final score more respectable.
6 — Dec. 21, 1998, Dolphins 31, Broncos 21: Dan Marino outdueled John Elway with a big assist from WR Lamar Thomas, who scored three touchdowns. This would be higher on this list had the Broncos' quest for an undefeated season not ended the week before with an upset loss against the New York Giants. I was at that one!
This game was historic. It's the only thing keeping the '72 Dolphins as arguably the greatest team ever, and of course the only undefeated team in NFL history. I mean, there are people out there who put the '85 Bears as the best ever (albeit a minority, but a vocal one) despite their one loss to the Dolphins, so this one game has huge historical significance.
Would have been more historic if we hadn't lost to the Pats in the AFC Championship and faced the Bears again in the SB.
Yeah I know. I was also thinking about the 10 worst Monday night games for the Dolphins.. clear #1 there is that Monday Night Miracle where the Jets scored 30 points in the 4th quarter. Couldn't believe it myself (I was in NYC at the time).
I was there and stayed until the very end. Getting up for work was almost as hard as watching the collapse.
Not necessarily the same take as the ones on the list, but December 10, 2001 stands out for me. Almost exactly 22 years ago. The Dolphins absolutely destroyed the Colts - who had a healthy Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne, to the score of 41-6, running and passing for more than 180 yards and 3 TD each. It was a masterpiece and such a fun game to watch, but it was also in retrospect the point where the good run that had started more than a decade earlier ended. Had they been able to beat the Patriots two weeks later, the Dolphins would have earned a first round bye and the Patriots dynasty might never have gotten off the ground. Instead, the Fins were never able to get over the hump and New England became the dominant force for two decades. But on that Monday night, we weren't quite there yet, and it felt like we were as liable as anyone to be the top power in the AFC, alone just one game behind the Steelers for the best record in the conference. Today, we're in a very similar position, and need to make it happen for real this time.
I don't remember that game, but I remember that era. Biggest problem for 25 years since Marino retired was finding a true franchise QB. We have one now it seems, which is why it probably will be different this time. But it was with the Colts that I think the 2nd worst Monday Night disaster occurred: September 21st, 2009 where we ran for 239 yards and held the ball for over 45 minutes!!!! and Peyton came back and won it. Man.
We had the game I just referenced and then the 2002 season opener vs Detroit (first game with Ricky) five regular season games apart. Both just brilliant demolitions of the opposing team in Miami, and such fun games to watch. There were so few like that for such a long time, and I was in my early 20s then and both able to just take everything in and remember it like crystal, and also to feel the emotions so strongly every week.
My personal favorite was Nov 29, 1979 when we beat NE 39-24, it was Csonka's last hurrah as he ran for 88 yards and three touchdowns https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/197911290mia.htm EDIT: Just realized it was a Thursday night game, I was 14 at the time, they all felt the same then.
I pulled up a video of the 2001 Colts-Dolphins MNF game and it struck me that the biggest mistake Miami made, thanks to Wayne Huizenga, was insisting on staying in the AFC East instead of going to the AFC South. Staying in the East made sure we'd only win one division championship in the next 20 years because of the Pats and then the Bills. If we'd gone to the South, we would have had at least 3-4 more.
My favorite game of all time. I remember watching it in the dorm in college, and as the only Dolphins fan in the room, having an absolute blast.
I watched the 1985 game on youtube in the off season. At one point the commentators mentioned 3 of our 5 staring OL were out fir tge season. Apoarently by the end of the year we had list all 5 starting OL. Just makes me think that we had stayed healthy on the OL that yeAr Dan might have won his SB. the full game
We didn't get to the SB in large part because our defense played like crap in the AFC championship game. They gave up 31 points, 255 yards rushing and made Tony Eason (a 67.5 rating QB that season when league average was 73.5) look like a world beater, throwing 3 TDs and no INTs with a 130.9 rating. And that's in the playoffs where QB ratings tend to be much lower than in regular season. The other reason was that Marino was not that good of a playoff QB. Many times he had mediocre playoff performances even in seasons where he was very good in the regular season. 1985 was one such year (both playoff games): 68.6 and 54.9 ratings. Combine that with a bad defensive performance, and I doubt even a great OL would have won us that game — note that Marino took a total of 1 sack across both games, so it's not like he was facing world beating pressure.
How crazy is it that the AFC Championship Game that season took place earlier than the Wild Card games will this year. The season starting later + the addition of the bye + the addition of the 17th game + the expanded playoffs just keep pushing everything back.
I was at a bar on holiday in New Orleans for this game, and I did an Irish Car bomb every time Miami scored. Don't remember too much of the rest of that evening...
