A look back at a record-breaking game in Patriots history

Since former Patriot Jacoby Brissett broke the record for completions in a game with 47 earlier this season, it got me thinking that we needed to revisit the game where the original record was set, back on November 13, 1994. And with the Patriots on a bye this week, this felt like the perfect opportunity to look back 31 years in team history.

The 3-6 Patriots, with second-year quarterback Drew Bledsoe at the helm, were facing the 7-2 Minnesota Vikings led by veteran Warren Moon. The Vikings jumped out to a 20-0 lead with less than a minute left in the second quarter. Up to that point, Bledsoe and the Patriots offense had been less effective than a Bailey Zappe deep pass. Bledsoe was only 4-for-12 for 24 yards going into the last drive of the first half. No one would have believed you if you told them that this would finish as a historic performance from Bledsoe.

Trailing by 20 points, their season was on the brink of extinction, but Bledsoe decided that the Patriots weren’t dead yet. He led them on a seven-play, 48-yard drive that ended with a field goal. Bledsoe went 4-for-5 for all 48 yards on the drive. Still, his team went into the half down 20-3, and Bledsoe’s stats were sitting at 8-for-17 for only 72 yards through.

The second half was an entirely different story. Bledsoe started things off quickly, going 4-for-5 for 54 yards on a 68-yard drive that ended with a 31-yard touchdown pass to Ray Crittenden. For the next quarter and a half, both the Patriots and Vikings struggled on offense. The Vikings actually turned the ball over in their own territory, but Matt Bahr shanked a field goal to keep it a 20-10 game.

That score stayed until the Patriots took over on their own 13-yard line with just over five minutes left in the game. Bledsoe led the Patriots on a touchdown drive, going 9-for-11, and passing on every play of the drive. With just over two minutes left and now trailing by only three, they needed to stop the Vikings to get the ball back.

Following a 6-yard completion on first down, the Patriots forced an incompletion on 3rd-and-2 to make the Vikings punt back to the Patriots. Bledsoe led the Patriots down to tie the game, converting a 4th-and-10 with a 25-yard completion to Vincent Brisby. He followed up the conversion with four straight completions, but the drive would eventually stall after a pair of incompletions from the 5-yard line. They ended up settling for a game-tying field goal to send the game to overtime instead.

Bledsoe finished the second half 31-for-47 for 298 yards. Let me repeat that, since I bet you misunderstood: Bledsoe threw the ball 47 times for 298 yards in the second half alone.

After completing the incredible comeback, the Patriots won the coin toss and received the ball to start overtime. At this point, the NFL still had sudden death overtime, which meant all the Patriots needed to do was score any points, and the game was over. Bledsoe continued his hot streak, going 6-for-6 for 56 yards in OT, capping the game with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Turner in the corner of the end zone.

Bledsoe, who, through 29 minutes of game play, was 4-for-12 for 24 yards, finished the game 45-for-70 for 426 yards and three touchdowns.

This game has a special meaning to me, because it was the second game I had ever attended. Interestingly enough, the first game I ever attended was also against Warren Moon, the year before when he played for the Oilers. Bledsoe was hurt for that one so Scot Secules was the quarterback, meaning this was the first chance I ever had to watch the first overall pick in 1993 live, and it did not disappoint.

When Matt Bahr was lining up for his field goal attempt at the end of the first half with the Patriots trailing 20-0, my dad leaned over and told me that if Bahr hit the field goal that the Patriots would win, which, of course, was completely insane, but what a way to call his shot. That’s why what the Patriots did in the second half meant so much more to me. When the late, great Kevin Turner caught that touchdown pass in the corner of my end zone, which 10-year-old me never saw, since the entire section stood up and blocked my view, I was hooked, and I’ve had a (mostly healthy) obsession with the Patriots ever since.

I’m sure there are a lot of people out there in their 40s who have a similar story about Drew Bledsoe, and a lot more people in their 20s and 30s who have similar stories about Tom Brady. Now it looks like there might be a new generation of Patriots fans who will have stories just like this about Drake Maye as well, and I think that makes us the luckiest fan base in the world.