The National Football League playoffs for the 1986 season began on December 28, 1986. The postseason tournament concluded with the New York Giants defeating the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXI, 39–20, on January 25, 1987, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
Theodore Washington Jr. is a former American football defensive tackle. He was drafted out of Louisville by the San Francisco 49ers in the first round of the 1991 NFL Draft. He also played for the Denver Broncos, Buffalo Bills, Chicago Bears, New England Patriots, Oakland Raiders, and Cleveland Browns before retiring after the 2007 season. Washington was selected to four Pro Bowls in his career and with the Patriots, he won Super Bowl XXXVIII over the Carolina Panthers. At 6'5" and more than 375 pounds in his prime, he was described as "the prototypical [3-4] nose tackle of this era." His gargantuan frame earned him nicknames like "Mt. Washington" or "Washington Monument". Also notable for his longevity, Washington was a starting nose tackle, one of the most physically demanding positions in football, until the age of 39.
The 1987 NFL season was the 68th regular season of the National Football League. This season featured games predominantly played by replacement players as the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) players were on strike from weeks four to six with week three being cancelled in its entirety. The season ended with Super Bowl XXII, with the Washington Redskins defeating the Denver Broncos, 42–10, at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. The Broncos suffered their second consecutive Super Bowl defeat. As of the conclusion of the 2021 NFL season, this is the most recent NFL campaign in which regular-season games were impacted by a labor conflict.
Bradley Alan Maynard is a former American football punter. He was drafted by the New York Giants in the third round of the 1997 NFL Draft, and has also been a member of the Chicago Bears, Houston Texans, and the Cleveland Browns.
The 1934 NFL Championship Game, also known as the Sneakers Game, was the second scheduled National Football League (NFL) championship game. Played at the Polo Grounds in New York City on December 9, it was the first title game for the newly created Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy. With a remarkable fourth quarter, the New York Giants defeated the Chicago Bears 30–13.
The 1946 NFL season was the 27th regular season of the National Football League. Before the season, Elmer Layden resigned as NFL Commissioner and Bert Bell, co-founder of the Philadelphia Eagles, replaced him. Meanwhile, the All-America Football Conference was formed to rival the NFL, and the Rams became the first NFL team based on the West Coast after they relocated from Cleveland, Ohio, to Los Angeles, California. A regular season game was played on Tuesday, the last until the 2010 season, on October 1, between New York and Boston.
The 1956 NFL season was the 37th regular season of the National Football League.
In gridiron football, the long snapper is a center on special teams whose duty is to snap the football over a longer distance, typically around 15 yards during punts, and 7–8 yards during field goals and extra point attempts.
The 1933 NFL Championship Game was the first scheduled championship game of the National Football League (NFL) since its founding in 1920. It was played on December 17 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, and the attendance was estimated at 25,000.
The 1986 Chicago Bears season was their 67th regular season and 17th post-season completed in the National Football League. The Bears entered the season looking to repeat as Super Bowl champions, as they had won in 1985. Chicago managed to finish 14–2, one game off of their 1985 record of 15–1. Although the Bears had an equal 14-2 record as the New York Giants for the league’s best record, the Giants were seeded number one in the NFC for the playoffs due to the Giants having a better conference record (11-1) than that of the Bears (10-2). In going 14-2, the Chicago Bears are the first team in NFL history to have consecutive seasons with 14 or more victories.
The 1990 Chicago Bears season was their 71st regular season and 20th postseason completed in the National Football League (NFL). The Bears were looking to return to the playoffs after missing them in 1989 and did so, winning their sixth NFC Central Division championship in seven seasons. With the change in playoff structuring that began in 1990, the Bears were not guaranteed a bye week for winning the division and had to play on Wild Card weekend. They defeated the New Orleans Saints in the Wild Card round but were defeated by the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants at Giants Stadium in the Divisional Playoffs. This was also the last division title the Bears would win until 2001.
Erik Matthew Howard is a former professional American football defensive tackle who played eleven seasons in the National Football League. He played nine seasons with the Giants, and was a member of the teams that won Super Bowls XXI and XXV.
The 1986 season was the New York Giants' 62nd in the National Football League (NFL) and their fourth under head coach Bill Parcells. The New York Giants, who play in the National Football Conference (NFC) of the National Football League (NFL), won their fifth championship—and first Super Bowl—in franchise history during the season. Led by consensus league Most Valuable Player (MVP) linebacker Lawrence Taylor and Super Bowl MVP quarterback Phil Simms, the Giants posted a 14–2 record during the regular season, tied for the best record in the league with the defending Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears and the best in team history. The Giants improved on their 10–6 record from 1985, won their first division championship since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970, and won Super Bowl XXI against the Denver Broncos.
Devin Thomas is a former American football wide receiver. After playing college football for Michigan State, he was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the second round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He played for the Redskins from 2008 to 2010, the Carolina Panthers in 2010, and the New York Giants from 2010 to 2011. He was a member of the 2011-2012 Giants team that won Super Bowl XLVI, beating Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.
The 1985 New York Giants season was the franchise’s 61st season in the National Football League. The Giants entered the season looking to improve on their 9–7 record in 1984, which was enough to qualify the team for the playoffs as the second wild-card team, and to return to the playoffs for the second consecutive year under third-year head coach Bill Parcells. The Giants managed to do both, finishing with ten victories for the first time since 1963 when the team won eleven games and finishing as the first wild-card team which earned the Giants a home playoff game at Giants Stadium. They defeated the San Francisco 49ers 17–3 in that game, avenging their loss to the 49ers in the previous year's divisional playoffs. However, it was as far as the Giants could get as they were defeated by eventual Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears in the divisional round at Soldier Field 21–0. Bill Parcells stated in "America's Game: 1986 Giants" about the game the Giants played against the Bears in the playoffs that "an honest evaluation of it, we could have probably beat that team one out of ten times. But that day was one of the days that that could have happened." At the time, the team set a record for most rushing yards in one season by a Giants team.
McKenna Sean "Bear" Pascoe is a former American football tight end. He was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the sixth round of the 2009 NFL Draft. He played college football at Fresno State.
The Big Blue Wrecking Crew was the defense for the New York Giants during the 1980s that won two Super Bowl Championships and three NFC East Titles, the first in Super Bowl XXI in 1986 and the other in Super Bowl XXV in 1990. A 3-4 defense, it was among the greatest NFL defenses of all time, and featured Lawrence Taylor as its star, considered by many to be the greatest defensive player in NFL history.
The Commanders–Giants rivalry between the Washington Commanders, formerly known as the Redskins, and the New York Giants of the National Football League began in 1932 with the founding of Washington's predecessors, the Boston Braves, and is the oldest rivalry in the NFC East Division. This rivalry has seen periods of great competition such as the Giants and Redskins' competition for conference and division titles in the late 1930s, early 1940s and 1980s. Experts deem the 1980s as the most hotly contested period between these teams, as the Redskins under Joe Gibbs and the Giants under Bill Parcells competed for division titles and Super Bowls. During this span the two teams combined to win 7 NFC East Divisional Titles, 5 Super Bowls and competed in the 1986 NFC Championship Game with the Giants winning 17–0. This rivalry is storied and Wellington Mara, long time owner of the Giants, always said that he believed the Redskins were the Giants' truest rival.
Akiem Jamar Hicks is an American football defensive end for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the third round of the 2012 NFL Draft and has also played for the New England Patriots. He played college football at Sacramento City College and at the University of Regina.
The 2020 season was the New York Giants' 96th in the National Football League and their first under head coach Joe Judge.
