The Denver Broncos season was the team's 26th year in professional football and its 16th with the National Football League (NFL). Despite finishing with eleven wins and five losses, the Broncos failed to make the playoffs. The Broncos were coming off a loss to the Steelers in the divisional round, and were picked by many to make the Super Bowl at the end of the 1985 season. The Broncos started out well, as they started 6–2 and 8–3. However, two losses in overtime to arch rival Los Angeles resulted in the Broncos needing to win their final two games of the season to try to sneak into the playoffs. They did just that, beating Kansas City 14–13 and Seattle 27–24. However, even though the Broncos finished 11–5, they failed to reach the playoffs by virtue of a tiebreaker with the New England Patriots. The tiebreaker was based on the teams' common opponents record; and the Patriots beat the Broncos in that category by finishing 4–2 against the Raiders, Seahawks, Dolphins, and Colts, while the Broncos finished just 3–3 against the same four teams.
A week four loss at home vs. Miami and the sweep by the Raiders cost the Broncos the tiebreaker vs. the Patriots, but a 30-10 loss to the 8-8 Chargers in early November was just as damaging.
The 1985 Broncos are one of two teams in NFL history since the 1970 merger to end the season with eleven or more wins and not qualify for the playoffs - the other is the 2008 Patriots.
Off Season NFL draft
Personnel
Staff
Roster
Regular season
Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance 1 September 8 at Los Angeles Rams L 16–20 Anaheim Stadium 0–1 52,522 2 September 15 New Orleans Saints W 34–23 Mile High Stadium 1–1 74,488 3 September 22 at Atlanta Falcons W 44–28 Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium 2–1 37,903 4 September 29 Miami Dolphins L 26–30 Mile High Stadium 2–2 73,614 5 October 6 Houston Oilers W 31–20 Mile High Stadium 3–2 74,699 6 October 13 at Indianapolis Colts W 15–10 Hoosier Dome 4–2 60,128 7 October 20 Seattle Seahawks W 13–10 Mile High Stadium 5–2 74,899 8 October 27 at Kansas City Chiefs W 30–10 Arrowhead Stadium 6–2 68,246 9 November 3 at San Diego Chargers L 10–30 Jack Murphy Stadium 6–3 57,312 10 November 11 San Francisco 49ers W 17–16 Mile High Stadium 7–3 73,173 11 November 17 San Diego Chargers W 30–24 Mile High Stadium 8–3 74,376 12 November 24 at Los Angeles Raiders L 28–31 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 8–4 63,181 13 December 1 at Pittsburgh Steelers W 31–23 Three Rivers Stadium 9–4 56,797 14 December 8 Los Angeles Raiders L 14–17 Mile High Stadium 9–5 75,042 15 December 14 Kansas City Chiefs W 14–13 Mile High Stadium 10–5 69,209 16 December 20 at Seattle Seahawks W 27–24 Kingdome 11–5 56,283 Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Season summary
Week 11
The Football Database. Retrieved 2018-Oct-06.
Week 14 vs Raiders
Standings
References
External links 1985 Denver Broncos season at jt-sw.com 1985 Denver Broncos at Pro-Football-Reference.com