In a shootout between two of the game's greatest quarterbacks, Marino threw for two touchdowns and the Miami Dolphins capitalized on two late turnovers to beat Kansas City 27-17 Saturday in the opening round of the National Football League playoffs.
In the other American Football Conference wild card game Cleveland beat New England 20-13. In the National Football Conference Green Bay edged Detroit 16-12 and Chicago trounced Minnesota 35-18.
AFC East champion Miami (11-6) will play at AFC West champion San Diego (11-5) next Sunday. Kansas City, the lowest seed in the AFC playoffs, finished 9-8.
The first Montana-Marino matchup since the 1985 Super Bowl lived up to its considerable hype. Marino completed 22 of 29 passes for 257 yards and had four passes dropped. His 1-yard touchdown throw to Ronnie Williams tied the game at 17-all, and his 7-yard scoring lob to Irving Fryar made it 24-17.
The 38-year-old Montana, playing in perhaps his final game, was nearly as good. He hit 26 of 37 passes for 314 yards and two touchdowns, but Miami shut out the Chiefs in the second half.
The Green Bay Packers limited league rushing champion Barry Sanders to minus-1 yard and held off a late Detroit drive to beat the Lions 16-12 in an American National Football League playoff game Saturday.
Sanders, who gained 1,883 yards this year, carried 13 times. The worst performance of his six-year NFL career was the major reason Detroit (9-8) was knocked out of the playoffs by Green Bay for the second straight season.
Despite Sanders' performance, the Lions had a chance to win at the end when Herman Moore made a leaping grab of Dave Krieg's desperation fourth-down pass from the Green Bay 17. But Moore landed just beyond the end zone as safety George Teague pushed him before his feet could come down inbounds.
The Chicago Bearshave a roster that reads like the waiver wire with not a single player earning enough votes to play in the Pro Bowl, but somehow, someway, they are headed for San Francisco.
The Bears survived two early turnovers then received touchdown-scoring performances from players with names well-known only to friends and family in stunning the Minnesota Vikings, 35-18 in a first-round NFC playoff game.
While the Viking offense stuttered because of five holding penalties and an erratic Warren Moon, the Bears continued to prosper under the direction of quarterback Steve Walsh. Walsh marched his team 80 yards in 16 plays, handing off to Tillman for the final yard and a 7-3 lead early in the second quarter.
Walsh came out of the locker room throwing in the third quarter and after connecting with Curtis Conway for 23 yards and Jeff Graham for 18 more, rookie running back Raymont Harris went 29 yards -- the longest running play for the Bears this season -- to push Chicago ahead, 21-9.
Reveiz kicked a 48-yard field goal in the final seconds of the third quarter, but Walsh struck again with a 21-yard touchdown pass to Graham.
Vinny Testaverde overcame the mistakes that became his trademark in big games to pass for 268 yards and one touchdown Sunday, leading the Cleveland Browns past the New England Patriots 20-13 in the AFC wild card game.
The Browns backed Testaverde with a defense that intercepted New England quarterback Drew Bledsoe three times, twice in the fourth quarter. The victory set up the third meeting of the year between Cleveland and archrival Steelers, next Saturday in Pittsburgh.(LAT, AP)
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