A 22-year-old Drew Bledsoe turned in an historic performance in rallying the team from a 20-point deficit to a 26-20 win at the old Foxboro Stadium.
FOXBORO – The Minnesota Vikings’ first trip here in eight years – they’re headed to New England for a 4:25 p.m. kickoff with the Patriots at Gillette Stadium on Sunday – stirs memories.
The date was Nov. 13, 1994.
It was a day when you could throw out the records at Foxboro Stadium.
Goodness knows, Drew Bledsoe threw everything else he could get his hands on that day.
Head coach Dennis Green’s Vikings pulled into Foxboro and the old stadium that once stood near the house that Bob built on Route 1 with a four-game winning streak and atop the NFC Central division (as it was called back then) with a record of 7-2.
The Patriots were in the midst of a four-game losing streak and at 3-6 appeared to be headed toward their eighth consecutive non-playoff finish in the AFC East during what had often been turbulent times, the ownership’s hands changing from Billy Sullivan to Victor Kiam and James Busch Orthwein to Robert Kraft and the coaching reins passing from Raymond Berry to Rod Rust to Dick MacPherson to Bill Parcells.
A semblance of hope had arrived in 1993 when the Patriots’ utter futility the previous season (a 2-14 finish that earned them the top pick in the ’93 draft) brought Bledsoe, the strong-armed quarterback from Washington State and prompted the hiring of Parcells, the team replacing MacPherson, the nice guy who’d finished last, with the fiery head coach who’d guided the New York Giants to two Super Bowl championships. More hope arrived in February 1994 when Kraft’s purchase of the team removed all fear that the franchise was headed out of New England.
In just his second year in the NFL, a 22-year-old Bledsoe threw 70 times on that November Sunday afternoon more than 24 years ago, completing 45 – numbers that, to this day, still stand as league records – in rallying the Patriots from a 20-point second-quarter deficit to an unlikely 26-20 overtime win.
Even more remarkable than the numbers Bledsoe had at game’s end (45 for 70 for 426 yards) were his numbers in the second half and overtime alone: 37 for 53 for 354 yards and three touchdowns as the Patriots, out of pure necessity, pushed the tempo by going to a no-huddle offense and all but abandoned the run.
As the Associated Press’ lead to the game story read: “Drew Bledsoe threw and threw and threw some more. Finally, he threw his arms up in triumph.”
Bledsoe threw his arms up in triumph after he tossed a 14-yard touchdown pass to fullback Kevin Turner in the left corner of the end zone 4:10 into OT.
Down 20-0, the Patriots began their comeback in the second quarter – the team’s 10th straight quarter without a touchdown – when Matt Bahr converted a 38-yard field goal.
Bledsoe’s 31-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Ray Crittenden made it 20-10 in the third quarter, but the Vikings still held that lead late in the game.
With 2:21 remaining in the fourth quarter, Bledsoe flipped a 5-yard TD pass to running back Leroy Thompson then, after forcing a three-and-out, drove his team from its own 39 to a 23-yard chip shot by Bahr with 14 seconds left in regulation.
A tribute to the offensive line, Bledsoe threw 70 times without being sacked by a Vikings team that entered the game tied for third in the league with 27 sacks in nine games.
The two teams combined to attempt a league-record 112 passes in the game, with Bledsoe and the Vikings’ Warren Moon (26 for 42 for 349 yards and one touchdown) combining to complete 71. That stood as a league record until Detroit (43 as Matthew Stafford went 33 for 42 and Shaun Hill 10 for 13) and Tennessee (29 as Jake Locker went 29 for 42) combined to complete 72 passes in the Titans’ 44-41 overtime win over the Lions on Sept. 23, 2012.
How much did the Patriots’ ground game become an afterthought on that day?
The team ran the ball 12 times for 42. Marion Butts was its top rusher with six carries for 26 yards.
The turnaround in that Nov. 13 game 24 years ago turned the Patriots’ 1994 season around, triggering a seven-game winning streak for a 10-6 finish that earned them a wild-card berth that represented their first playoff appearance since 1986.
The Patriots traveled out to Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium for a playoff game on New Year’s Day 1987 they lost to Bill Belichick’s Browns, 20-13, in a wild-card game in which Bledsoe struggled (21 for 50 for 235 yards and one touchdown with three interceptions).