Chargers-Miami 1982 Overtime Game Is Chosen Best of ‘80s

The Chargers’ 41-38 overtime victory over Miami in a 1982 playoff was selected as the top NFL game of the 1980s by a panel of Hall of Fame voters.

The game, played in the Orange Bowl, featured Miami’s comeback from a 24-0 deficit before the Chargers won on Rolf Benirschke’s 29-yard field goal 13:52 into overtime.

Second in the voting was the 1989 Super Bowl in which San Francisco beat Cincinnati 20-16 on Joe Montana’ 10-yard touchdown pass to John Taylor with 34 seconds left. The scoring pass came at the end of a 92-yard, 11-play drive.

Another Montana drive was the feature of the third-best game, San Francisco’s 28-27 victory over Dallas in the 1981 NFC title game. It featured “The Catch”--Dwight Clark’s leaping six-yard TD grab at the end of the 89-yard drive.

The rest of the top 10:

4. Denver 23, Cleveland 20 in overtime in the 1986 AFC title game.

5. Denver 38, Cleveland 33 in the 1987 AFC title game.

6. Dallas 31, Washington 30, Sept. 5, 1983.

7. Miami 38, Chicago 24, Dec. 2, 1985.

8. Oakland 14, Cleveland 12, 1980 AFC playoff, Jan. 4, 1981.

9. San Francisco 38, New Orleans 35, Dec. 7, 1980.

10. Chicago 20, Philadelphia 12, 1988 playoff, Dec. 31, 1988, a game in which the second half was obscured by fog.