The 100 Greatest Plays in Dolphins History: No. 66

Combining the countdown to the start of the Dolphins regular season with the best plays in franchise history

To help count down the days to the start of the Miami Dolphins regular season last year, we marked each day with the corresponding jersey number and came up with the three best players to wear that number.

This year, we're counting down to the start of the regular season with a countdown of the top 100 plays in Dolphins history.

Given that the Dolphins have played 849 regular season games and 41 more in the playoffs, it's an awfully difficult task to narrow things down to 100 plays and then rank them. The plays selected were ranked on the basis of difficulty, uniqueness, immediate and long-lasting impact and historical significance.

The countdown initially appeared in Dolphin Digest in 2019 but has been updated.

We continue with No. 66:

No. 66: Mark Clayton's TD catch vs. Chicago in 1985

Setting the stage: The 1985 Monday night game against the Chicago Bears on Dec. 2, 1985 forever will stand as one of the most memorable games in Dolphins history because their 38-24 victory at the Orange Bowl against the 12-0 Bears helped preserve the 1972 Dolphins' standing as the only team to go through a season with a perfect record. The Dolphins found a way that night to do something no other team in 1985 was able to do: solve the Bears' vaunted "46 defense." It didn't hurt that the Dolphins also got a little bit of luck on that night.

The play: After a dominant first half where they took a 31-10 lead, the Dolphins watched the Bears score a touchdown to make it 31-17 with 9:35 left in the third quarter. Chicago then got greedy, attempting an onside kick that Miami recovered. Three plays later, Dan Marino went back to pass, but the ball was batted up in the air by lineman Dan Hampton. No problem for the Dolphins, as the ball continue downfield over the head of a Bears defender and into the waiting arms of Mark Clayton, who turned around and had an easy path to the end zone for a 42-yard touchdown.

The No. 100 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 99 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 98 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 97 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 96 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 95 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 94 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 93 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 92 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 91 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 90 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 89 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 88 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 87 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 86 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 85 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 84 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 83 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 82 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 81 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 80 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 79 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 78 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 77 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 76 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 75 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 74 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 73 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 72 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 71 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 70 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 69 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 68 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 67 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

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Alain Poupart has covered the Miami Dolphins on a full-time basis since 1989. You can follow him on Twitter at @PoupartNFL. Feel free to submit questions every Friday for the All Dolphins mailbag.