The New York Giantsseason 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 coachBill 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" that 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", the Giants were ultimately undone by a whiffed punt from legend Sean Landeta, the ball flew out of the air when he went to punt it from a burst of wind coming of Lake Michigan, the Bears recovered the ball for a touchdown from less than 5 yards from the end zone, and ended up winning 21–0. At the time, the team set a record for most rushing yards in one season by a Giants team.
In a game against the Washington Redskins, Joe Theismann's career ended on November 18, 1985, when he suffered a gruesome comminuted compound fracture of his leg while being sacked by New York Giants linebackers Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carson during a Monday Night Football game telecast. The injury was voted the NFL's "Most Shocking Moment in History" by viewers in an ESPN poll, and the tackle was dubbed "The Hit That No One Who Saw It Can Ever Forget" by The Washington Post. At the time, the Redskins had been attempting to run a "flea-flicker" play. The Giants' defense, however, was not fooled, and they tried to blitz Theismann. Taylor sandwiched Theismann into Carson and inadvertently landed his hip on Theismann's lower right leg, fracturing both the tibia and the fibula.
Schedule
Results
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13
Week 14
Week 15
Week 16
Standings
Playoffs
Wild Card
Even though the 49ers recorded 362 yards of total offense, with receiver Dwight Clark catching 8 passes for 120 yards, the Giants limited San Francisco to only one field goal. Meanwhile, New York running back Joe Morris rushed for 141 yards.
